Is this bizarro-world?

Rating: 4/10 (17 April 2006)

I am stymied by most of the user reviews hailing Match Point as a modern Woody Allen masterpiece. I thought this film was terrible. The characters were one-dimensional and the actors charisma-free, save Emily Mortimer, who managed to have a personality despite her poorly written, cliché-ridden character.
Rhys Meyers may be good in other films, but here he is completely uninteresting and unconvincing. Scarlett Johansson is certainly an unbelievably beautiful woman but not since Helen Hunt have I seen a more misguided and talent-free actress pretending to be really into the "craft." I say that because you can almost see her acting wheels turning, thinking she's really sinking her teeth in here. Obviously she requires a director with a surer hand with actors. Maybe Sofia Coppola knows what she's doing after all, because Johansson was 1,000 times more erotic and captivating in that film. And she and Bill Murray had serious chemistry. Something missing in Match Point.
I hate to concentrate mostly on character development and acting, but they were so lacking in this movie. Even the most paper-thin characters and implausible plot can be rescued with a few affable actors. No such LUCK for Match Point.