The Man Who Had All the Luck

Rating: 9/10 (23 January 2006)

Filmed on location in England and featuring just one joke about neuroses, "Match Point" is perhaps not instantly recognizable as a Woody Allen film. But its intelligent script and skillful direction mark it as the work of a talented filmmaker, and one who is still willing to try new techniques.
Chris Wilton (Jonathan Rhys-Meyers), who teaches tennis at a posh club, becomes friends with the wealthy Tom Hewett (Matthew Goode) and starts dating Tom's sister Chloe (Emily Mortimer). But he finds himself extremely attracted to Tom's fiancée, an aspiring actress named Nola Rice (Scarlett Johansson). Increasingly, Chris must choose between two very different women and two very different lifestyles--optimistic, naive, moneyed Chloe, or worldly, seductive, struggling Nola? Using this rather simple story, "Match Point" goes on to explore questions of luck, fate, ambition, and morality.
Allen takes his time with the early part of the movie, which is perhaps a few scenes too long. Eventually, though, it subtly shifts from being a realistic drama to something much darker and more involving. The last 40 or so minutes are absolutely gripping, full of classically suspenseful moments and a very clever resolution.
Some reviews have called Nola a "femme fatale" type, and her memorable first appearance certainly gives off that impression: her husky voice purrs "So, who's my next victim?" as she pouts by the ping-pong table. But one of the nice things about "Match Point" is that it subverts these expectations. Nola's character gains depth until she seems like a rather ordinary young woman who got herself into a difficult situation and is trying her best to get out of it. She's far from a perfect human being, but far from the evil "femme fatale" mode too. (Besides, no one in this film is perfect.) Scarlett Johansson gives a vivid performance of this complex character.
In the early scenes of "Match Point," Chris's personality is a little unclear, both in the way Allen wrote the role and the way Rhys-Meyers performs it. However, by the end, both writer and actor have fully committed to making Chris a "Talented Mr. Ripley" type. Mortimer and Goode excellently capture the Hewett siblings' characters--good-natured, accustomed to a life of ease, unaware of how lucky they are.
"Match Point"'s slow start keeps it from perfection (there is also one small misstep toward the end, where Allen violates the rules of the world he has created). Still, in an era when many movies begin well and then fall apart by the end, I'll take "Match Point"'s solid-but- unremarkable beginning and brilliant ending any day.