Match Point

The passion of mad love and the cold calculations of social climbing collide in Woody Allen’s Match Point. Former tennis pro Chris Wilton (Jonathan Rhys-Meyers, Velvet Goldmine) stumbles into good fortune when Chloe Hewett (Emily Mortimer, Lovely & Amazing), the daughter of a wealthy businessman, falls in love with him. But when Chris meets Nola Rice (Scarlett Johansson, Lost in Translation), a much deeper passion is stirred–and his desire isn’t deterred when he discovers that Nola is already dating Chloe’s brother. But when their affair threatens Chris’s increasingly cozy lifestyle, Chris begins to consider a drastic solution. Match Point starts deftly and ends with cunning; though the middle bogs down in banal plot mechanics, Woody Allen fans have justly hailed it as a comeback after Allen’s last few cinematic stumbles. Despite weaknesses (Allen still seems to have lost touch with the mundane realities of life; his characters operate in a strange, weightless world of wealth and privilege), the strong performances and clean direction carry the movie through. Also featuring Brian Cox (X-Men 2, Adaptation). –Bret Fetzer

User Ratings and Reviews

5 Stars Good acting makes character driven scripts worth the time
Even Johanssen delivers a nice performance in this film. Though the plot moves every slowly, the ending makes it all worth the wait. You’ll never guess what happens; its awesome.

5 Stars A matter of luck
Chris Wilton (Jonathan Rhys Meyers) is a former tennis pro now working at a posh London tennis club. There he meets a wealthy family, befriends the son and romances the daughter. Things are looking good for Chris as he starts climbing the corporate ladder, and then he meets would-be actress Nola (Scarlett Johansson).

I knew nothing of this movie beforehand and assumed it was just a poor-boy-makes-good story; then came the last twenty minutes and I was shocked. The movie changed completely and I loved it. This Woody Allen film has been rightly compared with Hitchcock’s work. Indeed, Chris is quite similar to Ray Milland’s character in Dial M for Murder; both are charming, retired/washed-up tennis stars-pretty boys who marry well and aren’t big on ethics. While both Meyers and Johansson underplay their parts and have little chemistry together, the story is so good that I thoroughly enjoyed it. The movie is expertly directed and has a strong British supporting cast; heartily recommended.

3 Stars been there, done that
Hasn’t anyone noticed that this movie is just “Crimes and Misdemeanors” in London? Woody Allen already explored the fact that bad people get away with crimes and their consciences adjust. In this newest venture he packages it as “it is better to be lucky than good.” The nod to Dostoevsky in this one is not even subtle – the character is reading Crime and Punishment right on screen. It is obvious that Woody Allen has discovered the rich get away with murder, but how many times does the audience have to be dragged through it:?

5 Stars Woody Allen Outdoes Hitchcock
Woody Allen in his long sojourn to London found a new genre for him, the suspense lust thriller, when he wrote and directed the superb film “Match Point” (2005) He also developed there the thriller “Cassandra’s Dream” with Colin Farrell. With brilliant photography and gorgeous scenes of London he depicts the life of a tennis semi-pro Chris (Jonathan Rhys Meyers), a handsome devil with sensual lips, who volleys himself into a life of wealth married to Chloe, the daughter of a moneyed family presided over by father Brian Cox in a thankless role.

Chris is introduced into the family by a young man, Tom, something of a cad and a wastrel, to whom he’s giving tennis lessons. The wealthy scion has a stunning girlfriend, Nola, (again with sensuous lips) a would-be actress (Scarlett Johansson). Unfortunately for Chris he falls insanely in love with the money-poor Nola.

His dilemma: Nola gets with child and wants Chris to leave wife Chloe. Danger! Danger! Danger! What is newly rich Chris going to do? Chris is a striver from Ireland who hasn’t seen better days yet. At the beginning of the movie Chris is reading “Crime and Punishment.” He and Nola are two of a kind, both schemers and opportunists. Nola says, “You’ll do very good for yourself unless you blow it.” Nola keeps a diary which chronicles her passionate affair with Chris.

Most of the movie is taken up with the smoldering passions of Chris and Nola and his devious tricks to find time with his mistress. Suspense, Hitchcockian, keeps building in the film. Her neighbor, that staple of the West End stage, Margaret Tyzack, gets a quick view of Chris. Chris says, “Faith is the path of least resistance.”

The soundtrack has arias from famous operas, often old scratchy ones, that provide a brilliant backdrop to the action and maneuvering of Chris. The ending is full of twists and turns and some really clever bits. Luck plays an important role in Chris’s life.

One character at the end quotes Sophocles, “To never having been born may have been the greatest boon of all.”

With this movie Woody Allen opened up new territory and gave us a fine motion picture.

5 Stars best movie of Woody Allen.
Probably the best movie of Woody Allen. interesting interpretation of Crime and Punishment from Dostoevskiy

although soundtracks music seems strange choice , may be good for W Allen, not for people who never crave for opera stuff ))

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