Release Date: September 12, 2003

Rated PG-13 for thematic elements, violence, some sexual content and language

Directed by: Ridley Scott

Starring: Nicolas Cage, Sam Rockwell, Alison Lohman, Bruce McGill, Bruce Altman, Melora Walters

Plot:
Phobia-addled con artist Roy (Cage) and his protege Frank (Rockwell) are on the verge of pulling off a lucrative swindle when the unexpected arrival of Roy's teenage daughter Angela (Lohman) disrupts his carefully-ordered life and jeopardizes his high-risk scam.

Review:
Ridley Scott has definitely been on a streak as of late. In 2000 he directed Gladiator which won Best Picture for its year. Then in 2001 he directed Black Hawk Down, a good war film. And now in 2003 he directs Matchstick Men, a film so slick and smart that it almosts is hard to catch by the naked eye. Besides his streak, Ridley is the man behind the great film that is "Alien".

Let me begin to say that the trailers for this film gave absolutely nothing away. Actually to me it seemed like Matchstick Men was just going to be a good fun flick, but quickly forgetable. I am proud to say that Matchstick Men is not any ordinary film and it is a film that will certainly stick with you for a long time.

The screenplay for Matchstick Men is so original. It combines great dialogue with simple sets. A house, an office and some other buldings are as simple as the sets get for Matchstick Men. I was surprised to hear the budget for this film was twenty-nine million dollars. It sure seems a lot less than that and I'm saying this as a good thing. It is the quality and performances of Matchstick Men that drives it to be such an amazing film.

This film is such a surprise of how simplistic, but at the same time well crafted a film can be. There are only four actors that you see the majority of the time. Those being Nicolas Cage who plays Roy Waller, Sam Rockwell who plays Frank Mercer, Alison Lohman who plays Angela and Bruce Altman who plays Dr. Klein. It took just four actors for this movie and they all gave great performances. However, no one surpassed Nicolas Cage. His performance in Matchstick Men could be the best performance of his film career. He is so believeable in every aspect. If Nicolas Cage was nominated for Best Actor in Adaptation last year, you bet he is going to get nominated for Matchstick Men. Then again, I am not the academy, but his performance would be the first I would think of for Best Actor of the year thus far.

Yes, Matchstick Men is a crime film, it deals with con artists. But there is much more to it. What works in this con film is the fact that these characters are developed well, these characters are actually not characters you would see in your everyday lives.

I've been cleaning six hours straight.

There is also some great comedy in the movie. The majority of the comedy you will get is merely from Nicolas Cage himself. His character deals with phobia and ticks and he does it so well that you can't help but laugh. This is true as if we would see someone like him in the street. We will try and ignore this condition he has, but at the same time, the sight of it is just hilarious. So to be complete about Matchstick Men, it combined Crime, Comedy and Drama all in one.

So you get many genres if you want to call it that from this film. As well as good cinematography and some great editing as well. The editing is done to perfection to represent Roy's ticks. There is a scene in the beginning of Matchstick Men in which Roy is on the phone and he has so many habits, it is pretty unbelieveable. The editing is done so well with cuts that are truly original and it is some great character development that leads to their conning.

The odd thing is that Matchstick Men makes a sudden turn towards the end. It is a jaw dropping turn and it was definetely for the better. It all made sense once this occurred and everything completely changed. The mood, the relationship between Cage and his daughter. It was shocking...positively shocking. You will know what I mean, once you check out Matchstick Men.

Once again Ridley Scott shows that he is a great director and once again Nicolas Cage shows that he is a great actor. Matchstick Men is a film that should be watched by many because it sure is some of the best stuff this year will deliver. I'm glad to say Matchstick Men fulfills every part of movie entertainment.

Matchstick Men

Rating: