Match Point (2005)

A Noir with English accents. A modern, ancient tale with super stars of the future and a score of crackling vinyl original recordings of timeless arias. A sixtysomething filmmaker with the flair of an impertinent newcomer. A masterpiece. Engrossing, entertaining, elegant, wicked. The meeting between the splendorous Scarlett Johanssen and the breathtaking Jonathan Rhys-Meyers at the ping pong table is right out "A Place In The Sun" - Elizabeth Taylor and Montgomery Clift at the pool table - the feeling is James Cain and Patricia Highsmith but the result is unique, bold, enthralling. Allen's British dialogues are refreshingly startling and I don't intend to spoil the pleasure of its perverse surprises by hinting at any of them. Just let me say that if you love cinema, rush to see it.

Fmovies: Match Point is my favorite American-directed film of 2005. Woody Allen, coming off of hitting his stride again with Melinda and Melinda, goes back to his darker, dramatic side, and makes a story that may seem a little familiar, though not to his discredit. Woody borrows (some may say steal) elements from Fyodor Dostoyevsky's Crime and Punishment, one of the great novels of the 19th century (some may say ever written, I have read his work though not this yet), and transfuses it with subject matter that he's more than well acquainted with- the relationship drama. But un-like Love and Death, which was Allen's way of parodying the work of the author, this time he takes the work seriously, plunging the audience into the mind, conflicts, and outcome of the protagonist. That the performances by the actors involved, particularly the three main leads are top notch (Jonathan Rhys-Myers, Emily Mortimer, and Scarlett Johnasson in one of her best) brings full blood and flesh to Woody's strong skeleton of a film.

The story starts slow. Chris Wilton (Rhys-Myers) is an Irishman in London, a tennis instructor who could've gone pro. He meets Chloe (Mortimer) through her brother Tom (Matthew Goode) and they soon become close, close enough for marriage. Basically, he marries into an upper-class family where he's coaxed into becoming a businessman for the family. But during this he also meets Nola Rice (Scarlett Johansson), a struggling American actress, who's engaged to Tom. One thing leads to another, yada-yada, and Chris winds up in a big pickle as he's in a love-triangle between Chloe and Nola. Allen handles this dilemma with a powerful precision, by building up the relationships Chris has with each girl, and how there is not unbelievability in the set-ups. Nola is sensible and intelligent, if not altogether, while Chloe is caring and decent, if maybe too picture perfect for Chris. The dynamics are set-up so well, it leaves room for ample drama and suspense.

Allen, who has also been a playwright for decades, knows the way people interact like so, and how not to rush the situations and use tact with delicate scenes. There is also the element of Opera, which Chris sees with Chloe's family often, and the element of tennis. The analogies that both produce could possibly be very trite or cliché. It's not to say a couple of scenes are even cliché (ladies, you know you've seen quite a few movies with passionate kissing in the rain), but I even bought into those scenes. There is perhaps a certain manipulation that goes into these kinds of love stories, how much the audience can go with the inner conflict of our main character. But as the protagonist goes into a frame of mind that most may not be able to identify with, we're still with him all the way. And, perhaps, it's also because I love a good, solid infidelity story. Allen has here not only his best film in several years, but also likely his most suspenseful one.

Those who may not go with the sympathies &/or empathy for the characters may not like the film as much. Some have even criticized minor gripes with the film, like Rhys-Myers's unconvincing accent, or the over-usage of London's most famous landmarks. As an American, perhaps, I didn't mind certain things like these. When a filmmaker has this much trust in his script (and Woody, pushing 70 in making this, is not amateur), and has the right cast, it just takes off from there. To say I was on the edge of my seat through a good chunk of the third act is an

It's been said, but for a while one of the best filmmakers of the 20th century has been staggering with mediocre films not nearly up to his potential. But finally Allen has returned to the game with a subtle but perfectly done thriller which allows him to reinvent himself and discover new terrain like a brand new filmmaker.

Match Point offers a simple but powerful message that luck plays a huge part in everyday life which to a major extent is true. Luck plays a huge part in Chris Wiltons life when he gets a job as a tennis trainer at a fancy club and meets Tom, the son of a rich business man. Tom invites Chris to an opera where he meets Chloe, the sister of Tom. From there, Chris and Chloe start to date and Chris, a small and unwealthy man, gets introduced to high society life. He's offered a high stakes job, a personal driver, etc, just to bring happiness into the life of Chloe.

Chris is perfectly content until he meets the beautiful Nola, played by Scarlett Johansson. Nola is everything Chloe is not, exciting, extremely sexy, and unwealthy, which leads to Chris's dilemma. Nola and Chris begin an affair that leads to even more once Tom dumps Nola giving Chris the opportunity to live out all his sexual desires with a beautiful woman, but the high life of Chloe overpowers the little ambitions and lack of money. Match Point is about luck but also about choices made in life for personal enjoyment. Is it better to be rich and not completely satisfied or poor and happy? As a failure, Chris finds luck with Chloe's rich family willing to set him up with whatever he desires.

The film is very similar to Woody's 1989 masterpiece Crimes and Misdemeanors and it takes similar turns. Chris gets himself in the situation where he must choose from a small life with a woman he is satisfied and turned on by or choose a high society life with a woman he barely loves and lacks attraction to. I won't tell you what he chooses, but I will tell you the dilemma leads Allen to his most satisfying, tense, engaging film in over a decade.

It's great to see Allen take such a simple premise, used several times, and put all his trademark qualities into it mixed with a discovery of new terrain. Match Point is an engaging, entertaining film that gives you a taste of the high life and shows you what it can lead a man to. 10-10 for this excellent film by the great Woody Allen. Let's hope this is a revelation for Allen returning him to morality film-making.

Match Point fmovies. I was lucky enough to see this film at the Cannes Film Festival recently where it screened out of competition. Being a Woody Allen fan, I was just hoping the film would be OK and not a disaster like some of his most recent films. Boy, was I surprised! MATCH POINT is easily his best film since CRIMES AND MISDEMEANOURS and once of his best ever. In his first foray out of Manhattan and into London, you would have thought he had lived there all his life. This film is a masterpiece and is a sure bet to win critical acclaim and many awards. Jonathan Rhys Meyers is a revelation and finally lands a role of a lifetime as a young man who enters the world of the wealthy elite and would do anything to stay there. Scarlett Johansson has never looked as sultry and sexy as she does here playing the cool femme fatale. The film is beautifully structured and the performances by all and sundry are exemplary. Emily Mortimer and Brian Cox stand out among the supporting cast. The film has so many layers and so many unexpected twists that this is obviously the work of a genius director in full flight.

What can I say. The best way to see this film is without knowing too much about it as I did and you will come away from it declaring that Woody Allen is still alive and kicking and still able to make a masterpiece even after all these years.

The best Woody Allen movie in about 15 years. I would've said that a couple of months back about 'Melinda and Melinda' but this is a far better cry than Melinda and Melinda. Don't get me wrong, I think Melinda and Melinda is a good movie, but 'Match' is more fulfilling.

Jonathan Rhys Meyers plays Chris Wilton, a former tennis pro turned tennis teacher who is of Irish lower class. He is shocked to find out he got a job as a tennis instructor in a high class country club. There he meets Tom Hewett played by Matthew Goode in a very strong performance. What Rhys Meyers does is unbelievable, he showcases what he is really made of in this movie. Chris sounds like a simple person but what Rhys Meyers did was make him a person of complexity. From the moments of solitude when he's in the same room as his family, the way he grieves for what he's doing and what he is about to do is very convincing.

Emily Mortimer plays Chloe Hewett Wilton, Chris' wife and Tom's sister. Also what Mortimer does is also outstanding, even though she isn't given much to make Chloe a person rather than a persona, Mortimer makes Chloe a person with ease. In my opinion, I think Emily Mortimer does a better job of playing her character than Kate Winslet would've done had she been attached. She has the right notes and chemistry with Jonathan Rhys Meyers to make their marriage and romance very believable, and what Mortimer does in the moments of denial and solitude she is given, she makes Chloe a complete person. This performance should make her a star.

Scarlett Johansson gives, in my opinion, maybe her 2nd best performance in this movie. Johansson is OUTSTANDING as Nola Rice, a struggling actress. Johansson shows us her range to play this character, the epitome of tragic beauty, Johansson combines elements of sexuality, desire, nostalgia, in one being. Though this performance may not be as good as her performance in Lost in Translation, its still good enough to get her an Academy Award Nomination.

Match Point starts off as a drama and works its way into being a very tense psychological thriller, and Woody Allen shows he is still in top form by trying something daring, and pulling it off. This movie is a silent masterpiece.

...and what a great stroke of luck it is to have sat through Woody Allen's latest, "Match Point." Fans of Woody could sense his comeback in the tragedy half of his last effort, "Melinda and Melinda." It was far more compelling than the comedy half, and the philosophical ideas it brought up were the best Woody Allen had given us in a long while. Here with "Match Point" he explores the notion of luck and gives us his best film since....well, since I don't know when. He proves here that when he leaves himself out of the cast, and changes locations (the transition from New York City to London is as flawless as it is invigorating), he can deliver the goods. This film, free of all the typical Allen shtick, and full of noirish twists and surprises, is every bit as good as Robert Altman's "The Player" or "Gosford Park," and like those two films, it's the best kind of return to form you could hope for from a past master.

Chris Wilton (played moderately well by Johnathan Rhys Myers, who comes across as a more handsome Joquin Phoenix) is a failed tennis pro from Ireland who gets a plum job at a snobbish country club in London where he meets up with Tom (an appropriately British Matthew Goode), woos his sister, Chloe (an adorable Emily Mortimer), and has an affair with Tom's flighty fiancée, a struggling American actress named Nola (a ravishing Scarlett Johansson). The film starts off like a more refined version of last year's tawdry affair, "Closer," with Allen exploring the love lives of semi-bored, over-educated filthy rich Brits who when not hopping in and out of each other's beds are hob-nobbing at the opera, the latest art exhibit, or lounging around their lavish estates reading and drinking. There's also a hint of "The Talented Mr. Ripley" in its exploration of the class system and Chris' obsession with infiltrating this exclusive and beguiling society. Thankfully, we're spared all of the weirdness of an atrocity like "Ripley," as Allen keeps it all very clean, sheen, clever and classy.

The film takes some dark turns and has some operatic overtures, spiced with some Dostoevsky references and plenty of pondering on luck. Allen here doesn't seem to be writing off the need for hard work completely, but to achieve a truly privileged life, where one can get away with just about anything, you better have a lot of luck.