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Matchstick Men - 9/12/03 - PG-13 - 116m
Nicolas
Cage - Roy Waller
Sam Rockwell - Frank Mercer
Alison Lohman -Angela
Director: Ridley Scott
Screenplay by: Nicholas Griffin
Studio: Warner Bros.
Official
Website
JEF
I really enjoyed this movie even though I sort of ruined it for
myself… I’ll explain later…
Storyline: Roy Waller (Nicolas Cage) and Frank Mercer
(Sam Rockwell) are two con artists. But Roy has some problems he’s
developed some rather severe facial ticks, and gestures, along with an
obsessive-compulsive disorder that involves everything from door closing
routines to cleanliness issues to the fear of being outdoors. Roy is able
to handle his OCD’s rather well as long as he stays on his medications.
But one day he loses his meds, and needs to find a new doctor who can
prescribe him a new prescription since the one he had was from an illegal
source. During his session with a new psychiatrist he reveals that he
was once married, and may have a kid who would be about 14. Through the
psychiatrist, Roy and his daughter Angela (Alison Lohman) are re-united
and the rest of the movie deals with Roy trying to deal with his new daughter
and his OCD problems, and at the same time continue working on his job
as a con artist.
First off, the acting was great. I’m a big fan of Cage and Rockwell
and these two actors make a great pair. I would not mind seeing another
film where these two actors pair up again. Alison Lohman did a good job
as well, but I did feel some awkward moments between Cage and Alison…
I can’t quite put my finger on a particular moment, but something
seemed a little forced in some of their scenes together. This was a minor
point as most of the time they got along great on screen.
I liked the storyline of this film. It wasn’t just another con artist
film, but because of the storyline of Roy learning about his daughter,
and the dynamics of his awkward lifestyle mixing with trying to be a good
father figure were what really worked for this film.
In addition to the fine acting, and the good storyline was the cinematography.
Not overly used at points, but some really nice shots throughout the film
and a nice use of lighting.
As I mentioned before I sort of ruined this film for myself… VERY
early on in the movie I figured out the ending. It was really a sort of
accident; I wasn’t trying to figure it out. I wasn’t over
thinking the scenes, or wondering where the movie was going to take us.
I still enjoyed the movie a lot, because I kept saying, there’s
no way I figured it out that fast. I kept trying to prove myself wrong.
I also didn’t have ‘everything’ figured out, so there
were a lot of things that were made clear to me as the film moved along.
I don’t mean it to sound like I’m bragging here either. I
really think I just stumbled upon the moment of understanding due to one
very small scene which just raised a red flag with me. Perhaps others
who see this film might see this, but I did feel it was worth mentioning.
In other-words even if you do see something in the film early on, it still
is an entertaining and enjoyable story.
I’m not sure why, but this film doesn’t seem to be doing well
in the box office. It seems to not have a very wide release. But I would
highly recommend this film, and if you get the chance to see it, I think
you’ll like it. If you happen to miss it in the theatre, please
give it a rental when it’s released.
Jef
Here’s what Lyn thought…
