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Matchstick Men: iVillage review
Director: Ridley ScottStarring: Nicolas Cage, Sam Rockwell, Alison Lohman, Bruce McGill, Bruce Altman
Release date: 19 September 2003
Running time: 116 minutes
Certificate: 12A
What's it about?
Phobia-addled con artist Roy (Nicolas Cage) and his protege Frank (Sam Rockwell) are on the verge of pulling off a lucrative swindle, when the unexpected arrival of Roy's teenage daughter Angela (Alison Lohman) disrupts his carefully ordered life and jeopardises his high-risk scam.
Is it any good?
Here's what guest reviewer Jenny Colgan thought of Matchstick Men:
"Everyone in this movie about con artists - Cage, Lohman and Rockwell - is absolutely great. The film looks wonderful - all moody swimming pools and bright lights, and there are some funny lines, too. So it's a shame that it doesn't all come together in the end.
"Cage's litany of tics and obsessive compulsive disorders looks a bit too much like 'actor looking for Oscar'. Con artist films should be great fun, but this one is depressing. The funny lines are few and far between, mostly from Rockwell. And it's not quite as clever as it thinks it is - think of the great con movies like House of Games or The Sting. They're always two steps ahead, and breathtakingly fast, so that you don't notice the joins - which is essential when you're trying to pull a fast one. Director Ridley Scott is trying to fuse a character piece onto a well-established genre and, for me, although there's nothing bad about this film, it just didn't work."
Marks out of 10: 6
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Created: 19/09/2003 Updated: 19/09/2003
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