Lie
cheat steal rinse repeat
I wanted to
like this film. I really did. Unfortunately, the
farthest I could get was to respect the film. I
still haven't been able to put my finger on it,
but I just never connected with the film, its
characters or its story. As directed by Ridley
Scott, "Matchstick Men" simply never drew me in
and held my attention. The storyline is
different enough...I'm a fan of Cage, Rockwell
and Lohman. I had every reason in the world to
be simply captivated by this film. I wasn't. Of
course, I confess to being a bit baffled by the
selection of Lohman for this role...It's a
mid-teen role for someone who is 22 and
basically appears it. How odd. While I'd
generally agree that this is one of Cage's
better performances in quite some time, this
performance simply didn't appeal to me the way
he did in "Leaving Las Vegas" or even "8MM." Add
to all of this a familiar and sort of contrived
ending and for me this felt like an average film
experience made slightly above average due to
the performance of Cage.
©
Written by Richard Propes
TC Candler's Comment
"Matchstick Men" is slickly directed by Ridley
Scott and features two wonderful performances
from Nic Cage, as the obsessive-compulsive
con-artist, and Alison Lohman, as the 14
year-old daughter he didn't know he had. The
screenplay is well written and tells two
intriguing stories. The first story serves as
surface entertainment and focuses on the con
games played by Cage and his protégé (Rockwell).
The second story lays at the heart of the film
and recounts the character flaws of our
protagonist. He has issues... tons of them. He
has facial ticks. He has agoraphobia. He is
obsessed with germs and messiness and dirt and
shoes and carpet lint and yada yada yada. He
hasn't had a relationship in fifteen years. And
the last, but not the least, of his problems is
his occupation... He is a career criminal who
has perfected the art of the 'scam'. However,
everything is about to be thrown for a loop with
the arrival of his newfound daughter.
I liked
the film, but never felt a true enthusiasm for
it. It's well made... very professionally done,
but I am not sure that it achieved its primary
goal, which was to make us sympathize with and
appreciate the growth of Cage's character. It is
not a necessity for a great film to have
likeable characters (note 'Pulp Fiction' or
'Raging Bull' or 'Requiem for a Dream), but it
is important for us to sympathize with them in
some way. I found myself torn with these people.
They were entertaining to watch and tried to be
sympathetic, but were ultimately just a bunch of
heartless criminals.
The only
other problems I have with the film relate to
the cons themselves. I have a hard time
believing the plausibility of the scams. I know
it may be a somewhat cool notion that these
types of people are out there pulling these
elaborate scams... but it just doesn't exist!!!
This is a classic movie myth that has been
over-popularized since the 1990 cult-classic
'The Grifters'. Real-life con artists are not
lovable, cool, wealthy and attractive men who
wear Armani suits and have quirky sidekicks.
They are greasy lowlife scum who will think
nothing of cracking your skull open with a
5-iron if you fail to get them their cash. This
movie tries too hard to be cutesy and romantic
with its lead character and it all comes across
as a little phony.
All that
being said... I still maintain that this is a
decent film worthy of a recommendation. But I
just couldn't feel the affinity for the
characters that the screenplay requested of me.
Jacob
Hall's Comment
n/a
