Merely a more modern version of Allen's typical dark and passion-filled drama

Rating: 7/10 (5 June 2006)

Woody Allen's comedic films and darker films are both very distinct, but very similar within each genre, and while the film begins as something much different in the drama realm, it turns out to be Allen relying on his strengths, simply from a more modern point of view.
In "Match Point," Jonathan Rhys-Meyers plays Allen's troubled protagonist Chris, a former tennis pro, torn between his love for his wife Chloe (Emily Mortimer) and all the support her family provides him through his new job, and his undying passion for Nola (Scarlett Johansson), the former fiancée of his brother-in-law (Matthew Goode). Much of the film focuses on Rhys-Meyers figuring out what it is matters most and the drama this causes both his relationships, but then a long ways in turns very dark, Woody Allen dark, much like 1989's "Crimes and Misdemeanors."
The films strengths are in the dramatic relationships and events that have a more modern realism to them to keep Allen's style fresh and effective. Thematically, like past Allen films, the movie thrives on the impending choice and consequences Rhys-Meyers will make and deal with as a result. (Ironically he reads "Crime and Punishment" along with a reader's guide early in the film.)
On the weak side, there is also the theme of luck constantly being pounded in, or as Chris the tennis pro puts it, "sometimes the ball falls on your side of the court and sometimes it bounces over," although tennis, despite the title, hardly plays any role in the film outside of metaphor and symbolism. While luck can be pulled off as a theme, it appears more like a cop out for Allen than an important lesson, as anything can happen if you're lucky enough. Allen does, however, use it effectively through small directorial choices that keep the viewer constantly predicting the consequences of Rhys-Meyers' actions before they occur, and then looking incredibly clever when he throws in luck as a curve ball, but for the most part it seems unrealistic and somewhat bothersome.
Aside from the need to be thematically explicit, the film succeeds as a more modern telling of one of Allen's old stories, which in some ways helps the film and hurts the film. The characters are incredibly strong and the passion and tension in the film is very effective, but as a whole the story is rather thematically questionable in terms of whether Allen's sometimes clearly stated ideas are truly as he says they are.