5/5
A Must See
by Keyser Soze (Peoria, Arizona)
As one of the best actors of our time Nicolas Cage may have increased his already huge star power with his performance as Roy the "Con Artist" in Matchstick Men. As a divorced con man who left his pregnant wife, Cage gives an unbelievably believable peformance of a struggling soul with a guilty conscience. Facial tics, stuttering, and strange noises when expressing himself through words are executed with frightening realism by Cage as someone tormented by an obsessive compulsive disorder. Playing Roy's foil and partner in crime is Frank played by Sam Rockwell, who turns in a great, if not equal performance. Roy's penchant for cleanliness is challenged by Frank's slovenly behavior and shoot from the hip attitude. This relationship works well as Frank portrays the rough around the edges protege of Roy the mentor. Angela(Allyson Lohman) is Roy's 14-yr. old daughter that he has never known. Until now. In the middle of the biggest score of Roy's life, Angela shows up and begins to pull Roy out of the funk that began 14 years ago. Connecting on a criminal level, son and daughter forge a common bond that is engaging and enjoyable to watch. Cage's obsessive compulsive behavior seems to lessen each time he shares a pizza with Lohman. These characters are truly flawed and represent the human condition in all of its tragic imperfections perfectly. In the end we all may have do something emotionally upsetting to make ends meet in a world revolving around money. With equal amounts of comedy, drama, and suspense; Matchstick Men is a movie that truly has purpose. Discovering the purpose makes for one of the best surprise endings , as well as movies, of the year.
4/5
It's nice to see that Nicolas Cage & Ridley Scott can still make a good film
by chefdevergue (Spokane, WA United States)
"Matchstick Men" may not have been a box office success (compare it to the total gross of "National Treasure" [Cage's next film] and "Kingdom of Heaven" [Scott's next film]), but it certainly is one of the better-crafted & better-acted films to be associated with either of these men. I was beginning to wonder if Cage could ever repeat a performance like what he did in "Leaving Las Vegas." While his obsessive-compulsive con-man may not be the disaster along the lines of a suicidal alcoholic, he comes close with the impact he makes on the viewer. This could easily have veered into caricature, but Cage creates a creditable & believable obsessive-compulsive.
Perhaps this could be classified as a comedy, but it has an awfully bittersweet quality to it which makes the movie difficult to categorize with any ease. The characters of Roy & Angela (a very very good performance by Alison Lohman, who is entirely believable as a 14-year-old) are real enough to cause the viewer to have a vested interest in their ultimate fate, as the movie takes numerous twists & turns.
Ridley Scott did quite a good job at crafting a movie that avoids being too obvious, and which flows along nicely, maintaining viewer interest throughout. This was a very satisfying film, through & through...I wish these two guys could make more like this.
5/5
Gage is a master
by Michael Bird (Yorba Linda, CA United States)
Ok, Nicolas Cage is a wonderful actor with tremendous talent, and this flick certainly bares this out. So I have to ask, why in the world does he take some of the dumb roles he does? But I digress. This is a great movie and very well acted.
While the "con" type movie is done over and over, this movie really isn't so much about action and pulling off a con, like say "The Italian Job" a fun movie in it's own right, but rather a movie about a person with a mental disorder that works as a con for a living and isn't really connected to the human race. Enter a girl. It's always a girl, isn't it?
I won't give away any surprises here, but I will say I didn't predict the ending to the movie and was very entertained by the whole thing.
A strong recommendation and probably not a bad one to own, although since it's not really an action flick it'll probably be some time before I'd be excited about seeing it over.
5/5
Nicholas Cage at his best
by Debbie Lee Wesselmann (the Lehigh Valley, PA)
This cross between "The Sting" and "Paper Moon" pits master con artist Roy (Nicholas Cage) against himself. He has the smooth moves, the grasp of the intricate game he must play, the equally smooth partner (Sam Rockwell), but he cannot master his own obsessive-compulsive urges which manifest themselves in agoraphobia, tics, and, at times, full paralysis. When his partner Mark insists that he sees a shrink for his problems, Roy makes halting progress, leading to his discovery of his previously unknown teenage daughter Angela (Alison Lohman.) What happens next is both hilarious and heartbreaking as Cage exposes his character's heart tic by tic during his biggest con scheme yet.
I cannot fault a single performance in this film. No one plays comedic pathos the way Cage does, and he is at his absolute best here - even non-fans might be converted. Supporting actress Alison Lohman's performance is bubbly, nuanced, and adorable, making Roy's instant affection for Angela completely believable. The direction, screenplay, and other supporting performances add yet another layer of perfection to the film. This is the kind of movie you can watch several times before you get enough of it.
5/5
Nicolas Cage's best performance since Leaving Las Vegas
by Miles D. Moore (Alexandria, VA USA)
In the pantheon of con man movies (now almost a separate genre), Ridley Scott's Matchstick Men combines the witty geniality of The Sting with a little of the sardonic darkness of The Grifters and House of Games. Smoothly and impeccably done, it is the story of Roy, a master con artist whose unadmitted yet progessive guilt over his way of life has turned him into a seething, obsessive-compulsive neurotic. While his partner (Sam Rockwell) keeps pressuring Roy to go for a big score, his therapist informs him of the existence of a long-lost teenage daughter (Alison Lohman) from a brief, long-ago marriage. Roy's reaction to this news, his reunion with his daughter and her influence on his work comprise the story of Matchstick Men, a funny and resoundingly entertaining film with one of the most jaw-dropping surprise endings in recent memory. Rockwell and Lohman give excellent supporting performances, but it is Cage--one of the few actors who can go way over the top and take the audience with him--who steals the film with a comic performance that is perfect in every twitchy detail.
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