Match Point
From AwardAnnals
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| Director(s) | Woody Allen |
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| Distributor | Dreamworks Video |
| Honors | |
| The passion of mad love and the cold calculations of social climbing collide in Woody Allen’s Match Point. Former tennis pro Chris Wilton (Jonathan Rhys-Meyers, Velvet Goldmine) stumbles into good fortune when Chloe Hewett (Emily Mortimer, Lovely & Amazing), the daughter of a wealthy businessman, falls in love with him. But when Chris meets Nola Rice (Scarlett Johansson, Lost in Translation), a much deeper passion is stirred—and his desire isn’t deterred when he discovers that Nola is already dating Chloe’s brother. But when their… | |
Honors
Reviews
Amazon.com
The passion of mad love and the cold calculations of social climbing collide in Woody Allen’s Match Point. Former tennis pro Chris Wilton (Jonathan Rhys-Meyers, Velvet Goldmine) stumbles into good fortune when Chloe Hewett (Emily Mortimer, Lovely & Amazing), the daughter of a wealthy businessman, falls in love with him. But when Chris meets Nola Rice (Scarlett Johansson, Lost in Translation), a much deeper passion is stirred—and his desire isn’t deterred when he discovers that Nola is already dating Chloe’s brother. But when their affair threatens Chris’s increasingly cozy lifestyle, Chris begins to consider a drastic solution. Match Point starts deftly and ends with cunning; though the middle bogs down in banal plot mechanics, Woody Allen fans have justly hailed it as a comeback after Allen’s last few cinematic stumbles. Despite weaknesses (Allen still seems to have lost touch with the mundane realities of life; his characters operate in a strange, weightless world of wealth and privilege), the strong performances and clean direction carry the movie through. Also featuring Brian Cox (X-Men 2, Adaptation). —Bret Fetzer
Barnes and Noble
Woody Allen shifts operations to London for this low-key but effective drama, which reworks elements of his earlier Crimes and Misdemeanors and throws in a little Crime and Punishment for good measure. As is often the case, Allen sets his story in an upper-class milieu; his characters—educated, attractive, and articulate to a fault—interact in museums, opera houses, and country estates. Chris (Jonathan Rhys Meyers), a socially ambitious tennis pro, becomes friendly with wealthy Tom (Matthew Goode) and his sister Chloe (Emily Mortimer), whom he eventually marries. Comfortably ensconced in a cushy job provided by his father-in-law (Brian Cox), Chris seems to have everything he’s ever wanted—but he risks throwing it all away by having an affair with Tom’s girlfriend, Nola (Scarlett Johansson), a young American actress looking for work in London. Complications quickly ensue, and before long Chris finds himself in territory that will be recognizable to anyone familiar with the conventions of Hollywood film noir. Allen, who also wrote the screenplay, weaves an intricate web. Rhys Meyers impresses with his portrayal of a tightly wound schemer, and Johansson shows more of the promise we glimpsed in her breakthrough role in Lost in Translation. For much of the critical community, Match Point was a return to form after a slew of perfunctory Allen movies. One of the more intriguing films of 2005, it also signaled that changing locales was the best thing Allen could have done for his art. Ed Hulse
