More Woody Allen "Classturbation"

Rating: 4/10 (20 April 2006)

I find it sad that audiences and critics feel compelled to blow so much sunshine up Woody Allen's you-know-what just because he finally made another even watchable film. The utter mediocrity of his last dozen or so movies is no reason to trumpet the release of Match Point, a film that is at best bearable and probably most accurately described as, well... pointless.
Even a return to more fundamental narrative style doesn't prevent huge doses of classic Woody Allen "classturbation," in which lavish settings and the details of an exorbitant lifestyle become characters as important as any of the ones embodied by the actors. Bryan Cox's character seems to be drowning in his own affluence in just about every scene; it is downright painful how many times he mutters the same line, "You know you two will never have to worry about money" to his daughter and son-in-law. Cox's performance seeks to reinforce Allen's cinematic credo, which his own personal roles usually spend countless scenes belaboring: no amount of personal or financial success can ease the basic human restlessness and discomfort within all of us.
Match Point, however, disembarks from the usual Allen blueprint of disjointed, exhaustively expositional dialog-driven scenes in favor of a more plot-driven narrative. But with such a simplistic plot, bereft of complexity and subtext, this isn't even necessarily a positive departure for the filmmaker. The slow buildup of tension within the second act is the closest this story gets to engaging its audience, before a twist at the second act climax that sends the tale spinning off beyond unbelievability into downright absurdity. Any value that Allen derives from his little third act twist-within-a-twist (involving use of a metaphorical "net ball" in tennis) is promptly squashed by more heavy-handed expositional dialog between his too-dim-to-believe police investigators. It is as if Allen himself grew too excited by his newly rediscovered skill with more conventional narrative, and lost sight of how subtlety fits into that equation.
If anything, the commercial and critical success of Match Point will hopefully encourage Woody Allen to pursue a disciplined approach to his storytelling in the future. But that is not a good enough reason to sing the praises of such a lackluster effort as this.