MOVIE REVIEW: ‘Matchstick’ better than mediocre, still flawed
Grade: B
It’s about time a movie came out this fall that was at least worth watching. Although “Matchstick Men” will not make my list of favorites, it has a better plot than “Dickie Roberts” and much better acting than “The Book of Mormon Movie.”
This was just a fun movie. From its upbeat jazz soundtrack to director Ridley Scott’s unique camera pans and closeups of dogs, the film was a bizarre con on the subject of neuroses and relationships.
This was a great ensemble piece, and Nicholas Cage, Sam Rockwell and Alison Lohman were a great team. Not only were their characters believable, but their interactions were true to life. Bizarre, but true to life.
Perhaps the best part of the film was Cage himself. His nervous tics and cleaning/smoking neuroses made him a great anti-hero – a bad guy who you love to root for. It was hard not to laugh at a man who has to open doors three times before going through them and who eats only tuna fish.
His con-artist lifestyle effectively alienated him from all other human beings (minus his partner Frank, played by Rockwell). But it’s the interactions with his long-lost daughter Angela (Lohman) that helps to bring him back to reality and dispel his quirks.
The movie was a bit slow and repetitive at times, but the quirkiness of the characters helped to melt away those slow parts. The previews for the film are also a bit deceiving. It is funny, but not the upbeat comedy they make it out to be.
Be warned, the entire movie is a con, and some may not like the surprise ending the film throws at them. However, it is about examining the way we live and our relationships with the people we care about. Its main theme seems to be that when our focus is on ourselves, we are a nervous wreck of twitches, but when we focus more on our relationships with those we love, our life seems to right itself. This may seem a bit hokey, but the snappy script helps the “moral” come across in a happy-go-lucky way without overdoing the cheese.
In this season of cinematic drought, it is refreshing to see a film worth the money to see. Until the big holiday flicks like “Return of the King” and “Matrix Revolutions” start hitting theaters, “Matchstick Men” may be one of your best bets for an entertaining movie-going experience. It’s either that or go see “Pirates of the Caribbean” for the fourth time. And as much fun as that would be, it’s time to move on.
Jared Sterzer is a senior studying business information systems. Comments may be sent to jwsterz@cc.usu.edu.