Matchstick Men

Release Date: September 12, 2003
Studio: Warner Bros.
Director: Ridley Scott
Screenwriter: Ted Griffin, Nick Griffin
Starring: Nicolas Cage, Sam Rockwell, Alison Lohman, Bruce McGill, Bruce Altman, Melora Walters
Genre: Crime, Comedy, Drama
MPAA Rating: PG-13 (for thematic elements, violence, some sexual content and language)
Official Website: MatchstickMenmovie.WarnerBros.com

Plot Summary: 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.

Reviewed by Peter Veugelaers © 2003
- Who said they don't make 'em like they used to?

Ridley Scott takes a break from blockbuster gladiator and war films and psychological thrillers for a more sensitive piece. With Scott currently directing Kingdom of Heaven, which is about the crusades, this smaller film feels like an in-between job. Yet, this has a character and substance of its own, beautifully developing the deceitfulness of a con story with the contemporary nature of interpersonal communication between a divorced father and his daughter in a tightly packaged stylized form.

Nicholas Cage as Roy is divorced, suffers from phobias including a fear of outside spaces, and runs an ordered and impeccably clean life helped along by his psychiatrist (Bruce Altman). He is also a con artist. When his long lost 14-year old daughter Angela arrives at his flush apartment complications arise disturbing and challenging Roy’s regimented life. He struggles with how to be a father, his communication hampered by tics, compulsive mannerisms, orderly thinking, and a double life.

Angela is no angel and she pushes his boundaries by telling him she has had boyfriends and enjoys drinking, and when Roy, seemingly out of character, reveals to her the tricks of his trade she then wants to be like her father by conning unsuspecting vulnerable people. He doesn't approve of it. His psychiatrist has good advice for relating with Angela - be open and honest – yet it seems Roy is struggling to know what he’s really feeling, let alone who he is, and it is his journey of self-discovery that is affecting.

This fresh and innocent relationship between Roy and Angela is involving, effective not just because of the leads, but because of its intelligent dialogue, including a mix of dramatic and bright conversations, balancing the more gritty machinery of scenes dealing with bogus business partners Roy and Frank involved in fraudulent practices. This leaves the ambiguity of Cage’s character open and intriguing, complicated even further by his illness.

Cage is suited to this role, having starred in Leaving Las Vegas since 1996 gaining a reputation for playing off-beat, off the garden path roles. He’s memorable and compelling, a screen presence, and Alison Lohman as Angela is sophisticated and self-assured, a gem of a performance. The combination is likeable and real, the chemistry spot-on, the characterisations in-depth.

Angela’s fate feels unresolved but her character is believable. Cage takes centre stage in this with an excellent supporting cast.

There has been some comment made by critics that the epilogue doesn’t stick to the novel’s dark edge and opts for something unconvincing and unbelievable. Yet, as Chicago Sun-Times critic Roger Ebert pointed out, the ending has a transcendent quality and finality about it, which makes it satisfying and hopeful because Cage’s character has been built up as an unredeemable misfit. The heartfelt Roxy Music melody More Than This plays on the soundtrack at a significant point in the film as a metaphor for what Roy is really looking for.

The look of the film is aqua and summery, with a brisk pace, resulting in classy stylistics typical of director Scott. This is a convincing comedy-drama with complex and layered characters. Go see.