Crimes & Misdemeanors Revisited

Rating: 9/10 (12 February 2007)

Woody Allen has a gift. He is able to make the most mundane of movies interesting by simply adding in an extra layer for viewers to ponder. No matter how lengthy certain scenes, even if the first hour is bereft of any major revelations, Allen has a knack of implanting an engaging idea in the first few minutes of film, and keeping the viewer glued to the screen, waiting for the root idea to germinate into an awe-inspiring finale. While critics have blasted the director for regurgitating the same ideas over the years, Match Point proves that an old idea can be injected with new life, brought back from the dead to create a new and exciting experience. Ditching the usual New York locale, Woody Allen takes on London in what is definitely one of his greatest works.
Jonathan Rhys Meyers (Bend It Like Beckham) plays Chris Wilton, a man of Irish descent come to London to work as a tennis trainer for company bigwigs. Of modest wealth, Chris quickly makes it big as he starts to date a rich executive's daughter and is soon asked to work in the company. His new family treats him very well, and has seemed to settle into a luxurious and safe life. This sense of balance is disrupted upon the arrival of American Nola Rice (Scarlett Johansson), a sultry wannabe-actress dating a member of the family. What follows is a classic Woody Allen affair scenario, filled with close calls and sexy encounters, soul-searching and the rest. It is in this first portion of the film where viewers familiar with Allen's work are likely to roll their eyes in knowing boredom. Thankfully, the first few minutes of film introduce a wild card: in the game of tennis, when the ball hits the net, there is a moment of time in which the ball could fall either backwards or forwards; luck decides what course the ball will take. It is this simple idea that makes the first hour more endurable, that creates a need to know where the equation gets plugged in.
Woody Allen makes an excellent move after the lengthy setup sequences. While the affair scenario sparks a quiet interest in the viewer who is constantly waiting for the punchline, Allen makes a twist that changes the entire feel and emotion of the film. The twist is poignant; I found myself glued to my seat in utter confusion, aghast at the turn of events, until the very end of the film where it twists once again to create one of the most satisfying conclusions of any recent movie. The one-two punch breaks the fabric of the typical Allen affair film, and with the usual Shakespearean & Dostoevskian overtones, Match Point ends up being one of the most overlooked films of 2005 and signals another classic for Woody Allen's extensive portfolio. We should count ourselves lucky that there are direct-to-screen filmmakers of his quality still in circulation. (9/10 Excellent)