Matchstick Men

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For me to say that I love Matchstick Men is unlikely, but it is close. I think it's an ingenious movie, not because of the movie itself, but how it was made. Ridley Scott tranformed what could have probably been a standard, if not meager, effort into something special by touching the right buttons and making all the right decisions. Matchstick Men is a movie about a white-collar crook and more.

Roy (Nicholas Cage) is a self-confessed "con-artist", and that's his life. He is an obsessive compulsive, and he spends his time satisfying his need for his environment to be immaculaely clean or working fat, old, lonely people out of their retirement funds with his partner Frank (Sam Rockwell). All's about to change when a visit to his shrink reveals that he has a fourteen-year-old daughter, Angela (Alison Lohman), and the following week, as he attempts to rekindle the relationship with the free-spirited girl and taught her a few tricks of his trade.

Movies about crooks could either go bleak or light. This is definitely in the latter category. But in the deft hands of Ridley Scott, this is a solid piece of crime drama that moves swiftly and never takes itself too seriously but does not drift into the sugar-candy road. Next to this, Spielberg's Catch Me If You Can (which is also another "crook" movie) is much less fun.

Speaking of which, Matchstick Men also resembles Catch Me If You Can in its dreamlike cinematography. And again, it tops the Spielberg sugar-candy flick: it achieves its goal without coming across as self-indulgent. Scott's use of fluid cameras, colours and sharp visuals gives Matchstick Men a fantasy feel, and it ascentuates the pleasantness of the movie.

Nicholas Cage gives Roy the right amount of quirks and reservations. Alison Lohman shines as Angela, delivering her vulnerability and youthful energy perfectly. And the two leads work together pitch perfect. The supporting cast include Sam Rockwell and Bruce Mcgill, the latter as Roy and Frank's latest target.

So I guess what I'm trying to say is that Matchstick Men is an extremely fun movie to watch. Perhaps many viewers out there might find it hard to maneuver the tangled plotlines, but repeated viewings makes it clear it's part of Scott's attempts to whisk us past the cliches and extract the essenses of the story, the stuff that makes it more than just another "crook" movie.
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