Match Point

I was watching this film on HBO last night (it is now July 2014) and I like this film even better than when I originally saw it in a theater. What I particularly noticed is its tightness -- things happen quickly and inevitably. I also admired again the performance of Jonathan Rhys-Myers who with his slight sneer and silent watchfulness rivals Joseph Cotten in Hitchcock's Shadow of a Doubt. Is the business about luck contrived? I am not sure, but I wish Allen would do a sequel. I would guess the JR-M character becomes a ruthless CEO (perhaps the Jeremy Irons character in Margin Call) and as he climbs, has a more willing string of mistresses. And perhaps he finds his father-in-law and he are more alike than we originally think or if not, and his father-in-law is indeed weak and rich by chance, the sky is the limit for JR-M -- until his luck runs out, that is. This is one of Allen's best.

i'd rather be lucky than good.. Match Point The first half is spent on setting the obvious plot, twisted characters and dark tone of the feature and takes its time to kick in but when it does its enthralling, electrifying and brutal in its last hour. Woddy Allen's smart and finely detailed script is the real game changer in here along with his brilliant execution that makes you think twice. On performance level, the objective seems unsatisfied as the lead characters i.e. Scarlett Johansson and Jonathan Meyers and Emily Mortimer aren't as convincing as they should have been. Match Point seems like a normal rom-com with a predictable twist until its last act hits on screen that may shake the audience dreadfully for despite of its genre it goes into places where Woody Allen has never been.

I appreciate the philosophical musings based on "Crime and Punishment", as well as the thoughts offered on luck, love, lust, and fidelity, but Match Point is simply dull. It occasionally hits the accelerator, but far too often Woody Allen's pacing of the film just fails to deliver anything of interest. Plus, the film is far too subtle. Obviously, I picked up on all the thematic elements and what not, but as it stands, the film's pacing is just off kilter. That said, Jonathan Rhys Meyers is very good here and Scarlett Johansson also does quite well here. However, the problems of the film all come back again to the lack of intrigue and dramatic entertainment. I appreciate slow burns and slower films, but even though this one has a solid pay-off, it just does not save the film and, even worse, the sequence immediately proceeding the ending makes no sense given the tone and approach of the film before this. It just does not fit, even if the very ending does do a good job tying up all the thematic elements. Overall, Match Point hits the net and bounces back onto your side.

Very poor. Pretentious with poor acting, ubiquitous cringe moments, forced philosophical preachings. Characters are shallow, and non developed and provide no explanations for their actions, they just seem to do things to follow allen's plot. Characters are portrayed one way, and then their actions later on in the film don't conform, but forcibly go to where allen's plot wants. Johanson is gorgeous but her lines and the parts that she has to play are rubbish. Poor girl such a great actor yet such a bad movie. This movies is like someone having to make up a story on the spot with no preparation, they drivvle, drivvle drivvle, find out that they they've just spoke for a long time with nothing important or interesting, no plot or character and then threw in something bad in the last 5 seconds at the end to try and make it interesting.

I just can't believe how awful this film is and yet it reviewed so well by many. I think this is a case of people focusing on Allens excellent back catalogue of former glories and not treating this as a standalone film. The script is so bad, that it made me hate it despite the normally likeable leads.