Matchstick Men

<body topmargin=0 leftmargin=0 marginheight=0 marginwidth=0> <table cellpadding=0 cellspacing=0 border=0><tr> <td valign="top" colspan=2 height=80 BGCOLOR="#000000" TEXT="#F7F7FF" bgproperties="fixed" background="04000500dvldtc.png"> <div> <FONT SIZE="5" COLOR="#FFCC66" FACE="Arial" ><B>Reel Movie Critic.com</B></FONT><B>     |     </B><A HREF="index.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Reel Movie Critic.com"><U><B>home</B></U></A></div> <div> <A HREF="id1982.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Marci X"><U>Marci X</U></A>   |   <A HREF="id1978.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="The Magdalene Sisters ...reviewed by Vit"><U>The Magdalene Sisters ...reviewed by Vito</U></A>   |   <A HREF="id1981.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Uptown Girls"><U>Uptown Girls</U></A>   |   <B>Matchstick Men</B>   |   <A HREF="id1983.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="The Medallion"><U>The Medallion</U></A>   |   <A HREF="id1975.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Fighting Temptations"><U>Fighting Temptations</U></A></div> <div> </div> </td> </tr><tr> <td valign="top" width=210 BGCOLOR="#000000" TEXT="#F7F7FF" background="041d2c00dvldtc.png"> <div> <B>Home Pages for</B></div> <div> <B> </B><A HREF="http://www.reelmoviecritic.com/index.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="http://www.reelmoviecritic.com/index.htm"><U><B>Movies</B></U></A></div> <div> <B>      </B><A HREF="http://www.newbookdiscounts.com/" TARGET="_top" TITLE="http://www.newbookdiscounts.com/"><U><B>Books</B></U></A></div> <div> <B>          </B><A HREF="http://www.reelmoviecritic.com/travelforless/id364.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="http://www.reelmoviecritic.com/travelfor"><U><B>Travel</B></U></A><B> </B></div> <div> <B>                </B><A HREF="http://www.reelmoviecritic.com/travelforless/id361.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="http://www.reelmoviecritic.com/travelfor"><U><B>Great Web Sites</B></U></A></div> <bR> <DIV ALIGN="LEFT"></DIV> <div> <B>Similar Genres</B></div> <div> <A HREF="http://www.reelmoviecritic.com/id1190.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="http://www.reelmoviecritic.com/id1190.ht"><U><B>Comedy</B></U></A></div> <div> <A HREF="http://www.reelmoviecritic.com/id1636.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="http://www.reelmoviecritic.com/id1636.ht"><U><B>Drama</B></U></A></div> <div> <A HREF="http://www.reelmoviecritic.com/minigenre/id1873.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="http://www.reelmoviecritic.com/minigenre"><U><B>Based on Book</B></U></A></div> <div> <A HREF="http://www.reelmoviecritic.com/rmc/Genres/con_movies.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="http://www.reelmoviecritic.com/rmc/Genre"><U><B>Con</B></U></A></div> </td> <td valign="top" height=400 BGCOLOR="#000000" TEXT="#F7F7FF"> <div> Matchstick Men</div> <div>  <iframe marginwidth="0" marginheight="0" width="120" height="240" scrolling="no" frameborder="0" src="http://rcm.amazon.com/e/cm?o=1&l=as1&f=ifr&t=reelmoviecriticc&p=8&asins=B00012QLB4&IS2=1&lt1=_blank"><MAP NAME="boxmap-p8"><AREA SHAPE="RECT" COORDS="14, 200, 103, 207" HREF="http://rcm.amazon.com/e/cm/privacy-policy.html?o=1" ><AREA COORDS="0,0,10000,10000" HREF="http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/redirect-home/reelmoviecriticc" ></MAP><img src="http://rcm-images.amazon.com/images/G/01/rcm/120x240.gif" width="120" height="240" border="0" usemap="#boxmap-p8" alt="Shop at Amazon.com"></iframe>  </div> <div> <IMG SRC="3b9c2290.png" border=0 width="450" height="297" ALIGN="BOTTOM" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0"></div> <div> <TABLE BORDER="0" CELLPADDING="2" CELLSPACING="1" WIDTH="469" BORDERCOLORLIGHT="#C0C0C0" BORDERCOLORDARK="#808080" FRAME="BOX" RULES="ALL" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0" > <tR> <tD VALIGN=TOP HEIGHT= 20 WIDTH="463"><IMG BORDER="0" SRC="1x1.gif" HEIGHT="20" ALIGN="bottom" WIDTH="463" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0"></tD> </tR> </TABLE></div> <div> <TABLE BORDER="0" CELLPADDING="1" CELLSPACING="1" WIDTH="592" BORDERCOLORLIGHT="#C0C0C0" BORDERCOLORDARK="#808080" FRAME="BOX" RULES="ALL" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0" > <tR> <tD VALIGN=TOP HEIGHT= 23 WIDTH="588"><div> Matchstick Men</div> </tD> </tR> <tR> <tD VALIGN=TOP HEIGHT= 25 WIDTH="588"><div> êê <A NAME="ole_link1_1"><IMG BORDER="0" SRC="1x1.gif" HEIGHT="1" ALIGN="bottom" WIDTH="1" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0" ></A>ê<FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#CC9900" FACE="Arial" >1/2</FONT></div> </tD> </tR> <tR> <tD VALIGN=TOP HEIGHT= 23 WIDTH="588"><div> <A HREF="mailto:info@reelmoviecritic.com" TARGET="_top" TITLE="mailto:info@reelmoviecritic.com"><U><U>Reviewed by Lee Shoquist</U></U></A></div> </tD> </tR> </TABLE></div> <bR> <div> <B>Matchstick Men</B>, Ridley Scott's new comic-dramatic foray into the bittersweet life changes of an obsessive-compulsive con man, is a vivid human comedy that manages to create a rich character study and affecting family drama, under the guise of a con movie - a welcome con on the audience itself.   </div> <bR> <div> As the film opens we're introduced to a couple of would-be, petty criminals - Roy (Nicolas Cage) and Frank (Sam Rockwell) - unsophisticated yet slick hustlers whose game is selling drastically marked-up water filtration devices and wiping out their prospects' bank accounts in the process.  It's apparent immediately that Roy suffers from some "tics" and is in the throes of some sort of nervous condition.  Soon we learn that he leads a life on the verge of a breakdown, radically obsessive/compulsive and nearly debilitated when his medication inadvertently gets dumped.  </div> <bR> <div> A new shrink (Bruce Altman) convinces him to re-visit some long-buried emotional issues, specifically to form a relationship with a daughter he's never met.  When teenaged Angela (Alison Lohman) enters the picture and all but moves in to his closed-off world, panic attacks give way to a gentle and sweet relationship that's good for both of them - she's also a rather alienated teen with secrets of her own.  Roy's need to conceal his lifestyle ("I'm an antiques dealer!") reluctantly falls away, as father and daughter bond over the art of the small con.  It goes without saying that she ends up in the middle of the "matchstick" men's next big take.   </div> <bR> <div> What's refreshing about <B>Matchstick Men</B> is that though you might initially think it's about con games and comic criminals, sort of in the vein of <B>The Grifters</B> or <B>Pulp Fiction</B>, that's really the con in itself.    The film, for most of its duration, is less concerned with the tricks of its trade and more focused on a sweetly funny and unlikely pairing of two memorable characters and performances.  </div> <bR> <div> Director Scott, working from a script by Nicholas and Ted Griffin, based on the novel by Eric Garcia, works better here with actors than he has since 1990's <B>Thelma and Louise</B>.  This is an actor's film, and the mechanics of the con games never overturn that foundation.  Scott crafts a dimensional and plausible father/daughter relationship and takes a calculated risk, putting the more marketable plot points - the con games - into the backseat.   </div> <bR> <div> Cage, an actor who in recent years has vacillated between comic and dramatic turns, has in recent films found a seamless amalgam of the two.  With his performance in last year's brilliant <B>Adaptation</B>, and now this funky, touching character, he's smart enough to know that the drama is what drives the comedy.  He's always looked for and played notes polar to the tones of his films, and even in his award-winning <B>Leaving Las Vegas</B> turn, he found the humor in the headfirst wallow.  </div> <bR> <div> In <B>Matchstick Men</B>, he pulls no emotional punches in letting us in to the world of an extremely unstable character, and though his performance is big and loaded with physical gestures, nervous jerks and verbal stutters, he never makes us think he's playing it for laughs.  He wholeheartedly embraces Roy's physical, psychological and parental dilemmas.  The result is thrilling, as Cage goes out on a limb with a wild-card character who is, every second of the film, in the throes of some would-be crisis.  </div> <bR> <div> Though the always-excellent Sam Rockwell is hampered by a thin and reactive character, Alison Lohman is given an exciting supporting role that, when combined with her work in last year's <B>White Oleander</B>, marks her as a young actress of uncommon conviction and smarts.  When all is said and done and you look back at the film and her character arc, most specifically her more dramatic scenes, her character and performance take on new meanings that are just fascinating.   </div> <bR> <div> If there's anything that's a near-miss note here, it's that the con being set up just about reveals itself to us midway through the film, and ultimately the climax goes pretty much as we expect. To let on more would be criminal, since <B>Matchstick Men</B> is so well-plotted and meticulously crafted that even if you recognize some of the plot twists coming, they work anyway.  </div> <bR> <div> In retrospect and with hindsight, the last act surprises both negate some of the film's affecting scenes while making them seem even more complex.  The film ends on an optimistic note, and it's debatable whether its stopping place is authentic or if the film had ended two scenes earlier, it might be even more effective.  </div> <bR> <div> It's one of the year's best Hollywood films, and one of Cage's best performances.  </div> <div>    </div> <div> <TABLE BORDER="0" CELLPADDING="1" CELLSPACING="1" WIDTH="592" BORDERCOLORLIGHT="#C0C0C0" BORDERCOLORDARK="#808080" FRAME="BOX" RULES="ALL" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0" > <tR> <tD VALIGN=TOP HEIGHT= 19 WIDTH="588"><div> Rated R</div> </tD> </tR> <tR> <tD VALIGN=TOP HEIGHT= 19 WIDTH="588"><div> 115 Minutes</div> </tD> </tR> <tR> <tD VALIGN=TOP HEIGHT= 19 WIDTH="588"><div> Violence, Language</div> </tD> </tR> </TABLE></div> <div>  </div> <div> <TABLE BORDER="0" CELLPADDING="1" CELLSPACING="1" WIDTH="621" BORDERCOLORLIGHT="#C0C0C0" BORDERCOLORDARK="#808080" FRAME="BOX" RULES="ALL" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0" > <tR> <tD VALIGN=TOP HEIGHT= 20 WIDTH="617"><div> <B>Lee Shoquist © 2003</B></div> </tD> </tR> <tR> <tD VALIGN=TOP HEIGHT= 19 WIDTH="617"><div> <A HREF="mailto:info@reelmoviecritic.com" TARGET="_top" TITLE="mailto:info@reelmoviecritic.com"><U><U>Leeshoquist.com</U></U></A></div> </tD> </tR> </TABLE></div> <bR> <bR> <bR> <bR> <bR> <bR> </td> </tr></table></body>