I haven't seen many Woody Allen films. I've seen a couple of his early works, a few less of his later works. With the exception of Annie Hall () nothing ever really impressed me. Granted I'm sure I didn't watch the right Woody Allen films and so am woefully unqualified to make that statement. But for what it is worth, Match Point is very impressive.
The story follows Chris (Jonathan Rhys-Meyers) as a former tennis player now attempting to climb the social ladder through marriage. He quickly finds success by befriending Tom (Matthew Goode) and dating, eventually marrying, his sister Chloe (Emily Mortimer). The crux in his climb is Nola a sexy American, who is dating Tom for a time, that Chris lusts after. His affair with Nola makes his life more and more complicated as he realizes he just lusts for her and does not love her and has no desire to give up his new rich lifestyle for her. Inevitable action occurs, which I leave to those who watch the film or go to a spoiler revelation website. The outcome is quite clever.
Rhys-Meyers and all the cast really were excellent in their roles. Scarlett Johansson as Nola was incredibly sexy and quite convincing as a seductress with her scratchy voice and alluring eyes. There were also little touches in the film. In an early scene Chris is reading Dostoevsky's Crime and Punishment and after each section, has to pick up the Cambridge Guide to Dostoevsky in order to understand what has been written. It comes back beautifully in a later scene when Brian Cox mentions what a delightful conversation he had with Chris about Dostoevsky.
The movie was enjoyable from beginning to end and its clever resolution brings home the line of dialogue from the opening and ending of the movie "I'd rather be lucky, than good". A sentiment Woody Allen doesn't have to worry about, since he is indeed quite good at what he does, when he wants to be.
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