Matchstick Men - 9/17/03

Written by: Eric Garcia (book), Nicholas Griffin, Ted Griffin

Starring: Nicolas Cage, Sam Rockwell, Alison Lohman, Bruce Altman, Bruce McGill

Official Site

MINOR SPOILERS

Not sure where to start with this review. So, I'll start at the beginning.

This was one of three movies that came out last weekend. Cabin Fever and Once Upon A Time In Mexico were the other two. Mexico topped the box office, with Matchstick Men coming in second. I had seen the other two last weekend, and ended up going out to Pennsylvania, to visit my mom, so I didn't get a chance to see it until Wednesday. This was after my mom and I watched Confessions of a Dangerous Mind, which she liked. I figured, hell, with all the cursing and the sex (hard to watch with your mom there, believe me), we could go see Matchstick Men. I didn't realize it was PG-13... I originally thought it was R.

First things first. This is, by far, not your typical Ridley Scott movie. No lavish sets, no extensive special effects... this is about a straight forward story as I've ever seen. It is the kind of picture that can direct itself. There was no real style to the directing... any style that I did see, I would attribute to the editing.

A bizarre choice for Scott, if you ask me. I'm trying to think of the draw that this script might have had... and I can guess it might have been Cage's character. The story is straight forward. I think Ted and Nicholas Griffin did a fine job of adapting this from Garcia's novel. But I will say this: I was too engrossed in the characters and the basic plot to really think ahead. For me, that's a positive note. It was my mom... MY MOM who figured it out, before the halfway point of the movie.

Sheesh!

Cage is, by far, one of the most competent actors around. I never get tired of his work. Wild At Heart is still my all time favorite movie, and it's my favorite movie of his, as well. His work has always been solid and believable. As the focal point of the film, he couldn't have done a better job. I'm reminded of Bill Murray, when I think of Cage. Murray is getting some pretty incredible work, now that his roles tend to be more dramatic. Cage, even though he flip-flops between big budget action and drama... his range is enormous.

I love Sam Rockwell's work. I think he's going to be one of the next big actors. I was watching some of the screen tests on the Confessions DVD, with him and George Clooney... and it was really incredible to watch him work. I think Cage's character took a lot of the spotlight off of him, but when he was on the screen, he was impossible to ignore.

Alison Lohman. I've never seen any of her other films... but I would never have guessed (save at the end) that she's 24 years old. Sheesh! At first, I originally mistook her for Dominique Swain, who played in the Lolita remake... but I was wrong. Lohman did a great job, very convincing.

Each of these characters were written quite well, and they were all able to flesh them out with their own personalities and overall acting abilities. I was impressed with the acting in this film.

Altman and McGill both did great jobs as well... I don't want to forget mentioning them, because they play integral parts in the film.

But I still, for the life of me, don't understand why Scott chose this kind of film. It's certainly a far cry from his other films, especially his last three, Black Hawk Down, Hannibal and Gladiator. Was this a bid for an Oscar? I certainly don't think he has a shot at it as director, but Cage, on the other hand, has a shot at being nominated.

This film did not look like the same kind of photography that John Mathieson did in his earlier films. I hardly noticed any similarities in his DP abilities... probably because this film is more straight forward storytelling. You can tell, very clearly, that Mathieson shot both Hannibal and Gladiator... the stock, the camera direction... that was one of the things that struck me so clearly about the two films, were the similar looks.

The moral of the story is enough to give it a satisfying ending, though a semi-sad one, at that. The writing, the acting, all good. I don't think this is your normal Ridley Scott film... I won't even term this a Scott film, as I would with Blade Runner, Alien, Black Rain... hell, even his last three films. I think this might have been an 'easy' production... something to shoot, something fun, straight forward... but lacking in all the style that I've come to enjoy in a Scott film.

All in all, it's a good movie.