Could have been good - unfortunately, the acting lets it down considerably (spoilers)

Rating: 4/10 (17 August 2006)

I went into Match Point expecting a fairly good watch. I'd heard only positive things, so was looking forward to an enjoyable film. However, the moment the voice-over intoned: 'life is all about luck', or some such drivel, and the tennis metaphors began in earnest, I thought uh-oh.
Don't get me wrong - Allen almost got it so right. Without a doubt, this story had the potential to be so great, but it more or less went wrong at every turn. The script felt forced; although in deference to Allen, that may simply be due to the mechanical; robotic delivery of the protagonists.
Rhys Meyers, in my opinion was simply unwatchable in the first hour of the film. It seemed to me he was concentrating so intently on mastering the upper class English accent that he forgot to act. Albeit, he is supposed to be from Ireland and thus would be trying to fit in in an upper crust world - and so perhaps that is a genuine character trait. HOwever, if that is the case, it is the only trait that Meyers deigned to imbue the character with. From the outset, he is simply boring to watch. You don't care what he does, or what happens to him, simply because he is such a dullard.
Johannson disappoints also. It was as if she couldn't be bothered. I have to confess, I'm not as enamoured with her as the rest of the industry; I think she is particularly overrated as an actress. However, I do think she displays an incredible naturalism in Lost in Translation. But I couldn't buy her as a vixen one moment; mother the next; desperate mistress the next. And the scene where she calls him a liar; well, I had to fast forward; it was embarrassing. Not in its melodrama, as I sense that was meant to be her character; simply because she didn't pull it off.
And the 'ghost / dream' scene?! It was like watching an A-Level drama play! That's not to say there aren't positive things; Emily Mortimer and Brian Cox and Meyer's wife and father in law respectively are predictably good. IN fact, Mortimer is one of the saving graces of this film. My only grievance is that her character is not developed nearly enough - even though she gets a lot of screen time, she is merely used as a plot device; where she could have been so much more.
The story also has so much going for it. But, to my mind, the lead acting is inexcusable, and makes a potentially great film distinctly awful. I'll credit Woody for one thing - as an homage to London, Match Point works. It made me miss my home town. But as a thriller / drama / intrigue? Match POint doesn't quite cut it.