Love Game: Match Point

A perfectly sinister guilt drama from Woody Allen, whose peak seems to have actually hit right now. He introduces a new type of character into his complex affair: a sort of slick but ultimately extremely guilty guy. He is Chris Wilton (Jonathan Rhys Meyers of Bend it Like Beckham) a tennis pro turned instructor, who has just accepted his teaching job when Tom Hewett (Matthew Goode) takes lessons with him. He is part of a rich, high class family. Chris then meets Chloe (Emily Mortimer of Dear Frankie), who is Tom's sister. She falls head over heels in love with him, and he loves her, until he becomes entranced by the struggling but feisty actress Nola (Scarlett Johanson), who is Tom's fiancee. Their first scene is perfect: she is playing ping-pong and he steps in and their proverbial ping-pong/tennis match begins with a bang as they go back and forth. The two leave lasting impressions on each other, and they fall in love. Then, Chris and Chloe marry. And just after, the bomb drops: Tom and Nola are calling it off. So Chris is tempted, and thinks that Chloe is getting boring, so he starts seeing Nola and soon she is pregnant. This is the major source of tension, as Chris must choose between his rich life, pampering family, and guaranteed job, and his lust. Chloe, meanwhile, does kind of suspect something is up, but Allen's formula rules that out. About that: Allen's ideas have been the same lately. He focuses in on murder and guilt. He does his directing extremely well in this film, while providing a great, innuendo-filled, Oscar-nominated script. (SPOILER ALERT) The film does sort to drive to the same end like his others, as Chris, feeling guilty about his situation and not being able to bring himself to tell his wife, goes to Nola's apartment, and not only fakes a break-in and kills her neighbor but kills her too. And he feels like crap and all, but he believes it is the only way to go. He gets called in by a detective and is heavily suggested as the murderer, but one of his actions saves him. When he was casting off Nola's elderly neighbor's jewelry into the waters of London, Chris accidentally tosses her ring towards the depths, but the ring hits the barrier and stays on land (recalling thoughts of the opening tennis monologue). A murder in the area shows that this ring was being carried by the drug-addled killer (Chris' break-in was classified as a drug murder). Anyways, this elaborates things and makes the detective (who woke up with a hunch that Chris was the one) look like a dreamer, setting Chris free and intertwining Allen's famous getting away endings with the movie itself. Great stuff. Also, Meyers turns in a spectacular performance, one that makes a movie and takes it to great heights. Johanson isn't quite so, but is good as the actress, with personality and a drive, unlike Hayley Atwell in Cassandra's Dream, which really is eerily similar. Anyways, the tennis theme and the double entendres set this movie apart. Bottom line: Allen may be known for such movies as Annie Hall and Manhattan, but this one is really up there. Game, set, and match. A

The Smoking Guns: Cassandra's Dream

Woody Allen is a great director, and has been for over 30 years. He has made many great movies, including Annie Hall, Manhattan, Match Point, and Scoop (which may not have been great, but was extremely enjoyable). This movie is not a great film. It is not a good film. It is a decent film. And it seemed like Allen was rushing to keep his once-a-year movie status. This one is a murder mystery, just like his last few films, except you know who the murderers are, and you are given time to relate with them. Terry (Colin Farrell) is a former soccer star who is now working as a mechanic. He's a really, really nice guy, and he has a big conscience. He drinks, gambles, smokes, and pops pills, though, but he's nice. His mother, though, thinks he doesn't have a conscience. That might be because he gets in a heck of a lot of debt. But she's wrong. His budding businessman brother, Ian (Ewan McGregor), is a "nice guy". He's a nice guy if you don't count him cheating on his girlfriend with an "good" actress (Hayley Atwell), always showing up late for work at his father's restaurant, and damaging one of the cars from Terry's auto shop. Anyways, "bad" Terry gets 90,000 pounds in debt during a card game, and the two turn to Uncle Howard (Tom Wilkinson), who is a prince who knows the ropes of the world. But Uncle Howie is a little on the shady side, and he wants the two brothers to take out a guy on his board (Philip Davis) because some testimony he's gonna make will potentially jail Howard. So the two contemplate how they will murder the businessman and Terry feels bad that he will have to play contact killer. So somehow our good friend Ian (who's pretty much a senseless killer at heart) talks Terry into the job, and the two pull it off on the side streets of London. Then, Terry falls into utter depression and his girlfriend Kate (Sally Hawkins) tries to help him, but he just feels like crap about it. Ian is happy, though, because the man he calls Uncle helps him out with a big business deal in LA and gives Ian's girlfriend (who is a terrible actress) a potential hookup with a director. I suggest you stop reading if you actually decide to waste enough time watching this movie and be "surprised." So officially: SPOILER ALERT! Ian must take out Terry. And in the most predictable scene in the movie, Ian is gonna poison Terry, has a "conscience" finally (he decides to fist fight with Terry, not poison him), and Terry accidentally kills Ian and takes his own life (the latter mentioned, not shown). Anyways, this plot is too predictable and is not up to the level of Allen's other films. Now, to acting and technicalities: this film proves that Farrell can be a much better actor than McGregor, though I thought I saw McGregor mouthing a couple of lines to Farrell. McGregor was probably cheating himself. Take, for example, the one scene between Wilkinson and McGregor when they are contemplating the murder of Ian's brother. McGregor seems to be staring at something, because his eyes look like they're reading and the same camera angle is used repeatedly. It may even be possible that Wilkinson's lines and McGregor's lines were shot separately. But I'm being picky. I guess it's not that bad. Now too the supporting acting: Atwell is okay, but Wilkinson is pretty good (not good enough, though). Who is the best? Sally Hawkins, as Terry's girl, but she gets not much screen time. Bottom line: Scoop was good, smart, and worthwhile. This movie is barely passible, not very smart, and not worth the price of admission or, really, the price of a rental. C

Note: Having read a story ("Nanny Dearest") in Woody Allen's new story collection Mere Anarchy, I had to wonder whether one influenced the other. If it was literature to cinema, then that's a double whammy for Allen.