Awful script, awful acting, awful film.

Rating: 2/10 (6 January 2006)

This film is shockingly bad. I know nothing about Woody Allen's previous work but this production is so amateur it could have been written by a GCSE student.
The entire screenplay is so unoriginal and the dialogue so terribly scripted that, especially if you are English, you will find yourself cringing at regular intervals. A previous reviewer made a comparison with "Closer"; I am not a great fan of that film but it undoubtedly had some dramatic and interesting scenes of well-performed dialogue. I do not recall one memorable moment of similar drama in Match Point at all.
That the script is dismal is still no excuse for the quite horrible acting performance of the lead, Rhys-Meyers. How he has received praise on this site I have no idea. His character is wholly unconvincing and he shows no hint of passion in his performance whatsoever. Compare him with Firth or MacFayden in the P&P films (a valid comparison since there are many storyline parallels, not to mention one famous scene which Allen has copied to poor effect) and you must surely wonder how he has become a star actor. (The answer of course sadly all to clear!) Johanssen is better and shows that she certainly has notable talent, while the supporting cast are generally very good. That said, I was left again unconvinced by Meyers' wife: watching the two of them on screen together was sometimes painful.
All these miseries were confounded by a sense of disbelief at Allen's portrayal of both London and the English upper class. London is shown, as another reviewer pointed out, from the tourist's point of view. Indeed, the scene where a local estate agent shows Meyers around a flat seems to be Allen's way of shouting: "Look, I really DO know what London life is like, and here's a scene to prove it!" In reality he is way off the mark.
The language he attributes to the young toffs is equally demonstrative of his ignorance. Take the scene where the characters are discussing their impending holiday to Greece: the uber-posh ultra-stuffy language is simply not what real people use these days (and yes, the "upper" class ARE real people). More worryingly, Allen has absolutely no idea that Greece, to Brits, is not an exotic location. You simply would never ever hear a Brit say the line "Crete, it sounds so exotic". It's a package holiday booze destination for god's sake! And as for the portrayal of British coppers, well it was plain laughable. I don't think James Nesbitt knew whether he was supposed to be acting in a spoof or a drama, so badly were his scenes written.
All in all I was astonished by how bad this film was - an awful script, awful lead acting and thoroughly ignorant direction. It is quite apt that the story centres on the idea that luck can pull you through, because if justice had its way, Meyers would certainly not be earning his millions and Allen would not be earning praise he undoubtedly does not deserve!