Good, not great romantic mystery devoid of Allen's signature

Rating: 6/10 (26 April 2006)

I must agree with the smaller consensus in regards to some of the lavish praise that has been heaped onto this movie as being way overstated. My local paper's critic basically attributed this fact to it being Woody Allen's best in a little while, when his career has been in decline at least ten years. The fact that Allen had produced some kind of resonance within the film community at long last could have been the only reason audiences were on their feet at Cannes when it premiered, she went on to guess, and I must say I agree. Match Point is a very competent film, which does keep viewers pretty compelled throughout with it's involving story. For the first time though, I truly cannot see any trace of the writer/director in his script or direction. Obviously, Allen needed to do a little reinventing with his movies becoming more and more irrelevant in this modern age, but opting to basically sever his unique persona that has radiated everything I have seen by him was not the most assured decision of one of our most illustrious filmmakers. It will keep him in the limelight a little longer though.