Forced Thriller That Doesn't Quite Work

Rating: 4/10 (2 March 2009)

Woody Allen's "Match Point" is one of his most forced efforts to date. Allen tries to reinvent himself with a thriller that twists and turns for shock and awe. The biggest problem I had with with the film is the ridiculous turn it takes two-thirds of the way through. Allen tries to set the surprise up by making his main characters struggle over his involvement in a love-triangle seem so pressing on his conscience that he's forced to do the unthinkable. I didn't believe Chris Wilton's (Jonathan Rhys Meyers) change. Not for a second. It was baffling to witness. The entire time, as I'm watching his actions build up towards an inevitable climax, I'm thinking, "Don't do it, Woody. Don't do it." The twist just felt so forced that I laughed at the execution of the film, and, not to mention, the twist is foreseeable and not that shocking. You may shocked that Allen decided to make the turn down this road. Maybe Jonathan Rhys Meyers is just way over of his head. Maybe he's the demise of the film since the films turn rests solely on his shoulders to make the audience believe such a turn is believable.
I really never got into any part of this film. I wasn't engaged with these actors and their relationships at all. I didn't care about Chloe's (Emily Mortimer) obsession with getting pregnant, and actually found her terribly annoying and repulsive. Emily Mortimer is usually prime for a solid to great performance, but here she has a character that's just incredibly annoying that you find it odd how Chris can like her and how he wouldn't go after the more appealing Nola (Scarlett Johansson). Midway through the film, we kinda get bogged down in repeated scenes of Chris's inability to tell his wife that he's having an affair with another women, and we get the same argument between Chris and Nola multiple times. The film just comes to a stop. It might even lose some audiences and test their patience.
Matthew Goode is exceptional and stands out from the entire cast. He's really one of the few bright spots in the film. The relationship between Chris and Nola felt very fake and came off as very flat. I didn't really care about Chloe since she was written so poorly. I didn't find Chris's internal struggle interesting, engaging, or authentic. I found his actions to be forced in order to move the plot along, making the film a bit contrived and a little too neat. This isn't an effective romance or love-triangle, nor is it an effective thriller or character study. "Match Point" fails in the writing and the acting. This could have been good with a lead actor capable of handling such heavy material, but Jonathan Meyers is just unable to support such a dramatic turn. Very few actors can handle this kind of dramatic turn that borders unbelievability.