Matchstick Men (DVD 2004)

Meet Roy (Nicolas Cage) and his protégé Frank (Sam Rockwell), a couple of small-time con artists (aka Matchstick Men) who are on the verge of their most lucrative swindle. Roy's private life, however, is not so successful. An obsessive-compulsive agoraphobe (and chain-smoker) with no personal relationships to call his own... until he learns he has a 14-year old daughter Angela (Alison Lohman). Now, Angela wants in on the partnership – but that could seriously jeopardize Roy's peace of mind, not to mention his whole way of life. Ridley Scott's grifting comedy won't leave you feeling conned.

To me a 3/5 rating is a good thing, it's in between being better or worse which in my eyes equals a decent film to watch once and that one time only. This is exactly what I think of the Matchstick Men. I watched it in the theatre and I admired the twist at the end that makes us realize the filmmaker has been coning his audience throughout the film. I thought it would be good enough to buy on DVD, and especially when I had it on ex-rental for £3.00! It wasn't as good the second time around and made me glad I paid not that much for it.

It's a worthy rental but it isn't something worth buying unless you can get it for roughly the same price as you would pay to rent it. You will never guess what the great twist at the end is, it tries to act the same throughout the movie trying to give us the jolts and turns of every character trying to make us realize something unexpected about them. They do a good job of casting the performers for the part, especially Nicholas Cage perfectly portraying a paranoid con man that finds out he has a daughter and teaches her the tricks of the trade. Like I said, the acting is strong, maybe the dialogue can get a bit worn away from time-to-time and as you watch it the second time around you will realize all the clues they try to give you with the dialogue then sounding a bit cheesy. But we can overlook that since they don't give it away the first time viewing. About three quarters through the film it starts getting a little over the limit of being as dramatic as it has before. It will make you think it is going into some kind of supernatural zone but I assure you that you will appreciate it when it all comes together right at the end. There are some comedic moments but nothing that will make you smile or laugh, you can just tell it was a joke and it was meant to make you laugh. This is more of a drama than anything else but still has the entertainment as what a popcorn film has. I'm making it sound like it's a serious film, and in some parts it is, but the script makes it enjoyable enough and evenly spreads out not for you to think too much about it. But bear in mind that you need to focus on it throughout the film to understand the twist at the end. It has some good camera work thanks to the direction of Ridley Scott. You have to watch this once, but make sure you know exactly that you will watch this again if you bought it.