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MATCH POINT Send This Review to a Friend
Woody Allen hits a new stride with his latest film, “Match Point,” one of the year’s best ten. It is a film different from most of what the writer-director has done. Part thriller, part examination of upward mobility, class and sexual obsession, “Match Point,” filmed in England, has a superb cast that helps make the drama riveting. Allen stays behind the camera in this instance, but his wit enlivens the screenplay and the stylish filming, which, unsurprisingly, produces some captivating visuals.
In some respects “Match Point” would seem to be a hip updating of Theodore Dreiser’s “An American Tragedy.” Of other Allen films, “Crimes and Misdemeanors” also comes to mind. But comparisons aside, everything about this Allen venture seems so fresh that one gets lost in its immediacy.
Jonathan Rhys-Meyers is perfectly cast as Christopher “Chris” Wilton, an ex-tennis player who gets a job teaching at a high-end club, exactly the right milieu for his social climbing. Wilton talks a good game, and has the glib ability to insinuate himself into the upper circles. Soon he is buddies with Tom Hewett (Matthew Goode) and he is becoming involved with Tom’s sister Chloe (Emily Mortimer). The Hewett family, reluctant at first, warms to Wilton and is prepared to take him in as Chloe’s husband.
But there’s a hitch. Tom is involved with an American would-be actress, Nola Rice, played by Scarlett Johansson, and the minute Wilton sees her it is obvious that there are sexual sparks in the air. No wonder. Johansson is a dazzler here, turning on the charm and oozing sex appeal. Now that Wilton has crashed the upper echelon, including going to work in the Hewett business in a cushy job filled with perks, how much is he willing to risk in pursuing a clandestine affair with Nola? And how much will she risk in becoming captive of such a liaison?
That’s the setup, and Allen takes us on twists and turns, all against the background of a heel among the well-heeled and the extent to which luck plays a part in determining someone’s life or future. As shown at the outset, a ball that hits the tennis net can flop on either one side or the other, determining a winner or a loser.
Suspense builds to a moral and ethical point, and Allen doesn’t feel bound to make it easy for the viewer. Saying more would spoil it for you. But “Match Point” is a film that is smart and consistently involving.
I have found Allen’s past films more likable than have those who see him as having been in a slump. He’s always in quest of something different, and he has an amazing body of work over his productive career. Perhaps had he not done his other recent films, he would not have been led to making “Match Point,” which now further cements his standing as one of American’s outstanding filmmakers. Allen is in again. A DreamWorks release.
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