Match Point

Match Point, or, Crime & Misdemeanors, Except I Changed Like 4 Things, And the Mistress is Really Hot This Time

Declining tennis pro "Wilton" (Jonathan Rhys Meyers) is looking for a job at a swanky London club teaching the well-healed folks like "Tom" (Matthew Goode) and his sister "Chloe" (Emily Mortimer) to whom, after a rather brief courtship, he ultimately gets married. He gets used to her standard of living but isn't really that enamoured of the woman herself. That scenario only worsens when he meets budding actress "Nola" (Scarlett Johansson) - who was dating "Tom" and they start to have an affair. With his wife determined to start a family and a mistress who is becoming increasingly obsessive, poor old "Wilton" must resort to some desperate measures! What possessed Wood Allen to cast JRM here? He's so wooden he makes Victor Mature look animate...

This is one I've seen a handful of times before and while I liked it, I wasn't as love with it when I first saw. Still a solid suspense-drama with fine acting (but not great), it is of course being a Woody Allen film, very talky. The suspense does ratchet up in the final 15-minutes and the theme of luck is well done. There is one gaping plot hole in regards to Nola's pregnancy which any autopsy would catch coupled with Chris's initial denial of the affair when talking with the police, I can kind of explain it away with lazy police work I guess. 4.25/5

On a side note, while yes Scarlet Johansson is gorgeous, I actually find Emily Mortimer wildly attractive as well...