Boring, Badly Acted, Badly Written Waste of Time--Nice Real Estate Though

Rating: 3/10 (6 May 2006)

Annie Hall was the first video tape I ever purchased, and that was back when I had no money. I loved Hannah and her Sisters. I have tried to keep the faith with Woody Allen through decades of disappointment and repetition. I hadn't seen a Woody Allen film in a long time but was encouraged by the good buzz Match Point received. But I'm done with Woody Allen. Match Point killed whatever was left of my fondness for his work.
The story, hinging as it does on a wealthy Brit hiring a tennis pro as a high level manager in his operation, is not remotely credible. Every scene screams self-consciously, "this is a scene from a movie." Woody's writing and direction render the characters lifeless and I couldn't see any effort by any of the actors to individuate their character or in anyway make them other than "disapproving mother" "rich drinker" or "nervous actress." I've never seen Jonathan Rhys Meyers act before but I won't be rushing out to view his work anytime soon. I saw no inner life in his character at all.
When was the last time Woody Allen wrote a believable line of dialog? All of his characters speak in the same cadence, with the same vocabulary. Not a syllable that comes out of their mouths is anything but a "Woody Allen line." Worse, he has every actor in this movie deliver his or her line in the same smug, oddly flat, tone.
The only reason I gave this movie a 3 is because it is real estate porn. We get to enjoy some great interiors of the homes of very wealthy characters. Good artwork too.