Matchstick Men Review
by Michael Redman (redman AT bluemarble DOT net)October 2nd, 2003
Matchstick Men strikes spark
Matchstick Men
PG-13
116 minutes
**** (out of *****)
By Michael Redman
There is a saying that got played out decades ago: "Life is what happens while you're busy making other plans." Although it sounded insightful the first few times, soon it was turned into a button, a t-shirt, a bumper sticker and probably a Cracker Jacks prize.
It sounds trite now, there's still some truth there. The best laid plans of mice and men and all that. The trick is to recognize when life and the plan aren't peacefully co-existing. In real life, sometimes it's difficult to see when that isn't happening. In reel life, it's a Big Theme.
Roy Walker (Nicolas Cage) has a plan. He's an experienced and accomplished con man — "con artist" in Roy's words. He doesn't especially like his chosen career, but he's good at it and has a stash of ill-gotten loot.
But there are some things that aren't working in his life. He's obsessive-compulsive. He has to close each door three times. Neat and tidy to an extreme fault, everything has to be in the right place and it has to be clean. There's only one thing on the menu: Starkist Tuna. All of this is while he's on his meds. When he runs out, it gets worse. Much worse.
He's not having much fun. And then, suddenly, there's this teenage daughter he never knew he had and his plan is shot to hell.
There are several very different things going on in this film. Usually operating minor flimflams, Roy and his partner Frank (Sam Rockwell) are getting ready to pull a big con on what seems to be an easy mark. At the same time, Roy and his daughter Angela (Alison Lohman) are attempting to forge a relationship. Through all of this, Roy is battling his neurotic problems with more than a few laughs for the audience.
Reluctantly, Roy begins to teach Angela to grift. A chip off the old block, she's a natural. In giving her advice that he doesn't take himself, he hands us the key to the film. Roy might want to pay a little more attention to what is going on.
There's a little "Odd Couple" here, some "Paper Moon", a bit of "The Sting" with even a touch of a Lifetime movie tossed in. Just when you think you've got the movie pegged, it shifts gears. Because of this, it's easy to be blindsided by an unexpected plot turn.
It's to director Ridley Scott's credit that not only do these all take place in the same movie, but they move from one to the other seamlessly. Scott has a long, mostly distinguished, history of film from spectacular science fiction ("Alien", "Blade Runner") to "message" comedies ("Thelma And Louise"). "Matchstick Men" is a rare one for him. There are a few action scenes, but it's mostly on a human level with some effective dark comedy and he does a fine job.
The cast is equally impressive. Cage continues to excel in playing quirky characters. His performance coupled with quality editing puts us inside the mind of the tormented. The temptation in such a role is to head over the top. Thankfully Cage only succumbs to that particular sin a few times.
Cage and Lohman are completely convincing as the newly formed father and daughter. The 24 year-old actress is surprisingly believable as a girl 10 years younger. Rockwell provides the much-needed slob contrasting Roy's life of order and steals the show on more than one occasion. Even the minor characters are well acted with Bruce McGill as the intended target, a standout.
There are a few minor problems. At times the film slows down to a crawl. Even for a story about an obsessive-compulsive, some scenes are repeated too often. Parts of the ending are telegraphed a little too early, but to give it credit, in most other movies of this genre, you'd have anticipated the entire plot about 15 minutes into it.
In keeping with the multiple storylines, the film has multiple endings. Like the rest of the film, it's exactly what you expect and then it's not and then it changes again. Somewhat like everyone's life.
(Michael Redman has written film reviews in Bloomington for over a quarter century and boys are his arms tired. Email your favorite con jobs to [email protected].)
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