almost, but not quite, the Woody Allen we know and love (and miss) so much...

Rating: 6/10 (8 June 2006)

I heard a lot of hype about Woody Allen's most recent film, Match Point. So I was really looking forward to watching it. Finally, I did, but although the film was OK, I was rather disappointed.
First, let me say that I am a Woody Allen fan, although I've lost interest in his recent work. I think I've seen most of his movies up through Small Time Crooks, but that one was so bad that I decided to read reviews of his next several films before investing the time and money in seeing them, and until Match Point I never saw a review that made me think I'd return to Woody. Melinda and Melinda seemed like a possibility, but I never got around to it. So, when Match Point made its way back to Oscar contention and scored on many critics' top movie lists for 2005, I decided to give it a go.
It wasn't bad. Overall, I liked the style and the acting, and there's no doubt that the story was fairly taut and suspenseful. I mean, I always felt pretty sure I knew what was going to happen, but at the same time I was aware that I could easily be surprised, so the tension mounted nicely as I watched the plot unfold slowly over 2 hours. That part I liked, and perhaps this is partly what makes some critics call the film Hitchcockian (that and its exploration into how evil a normal, everyday person can be).
But the film seemed to fail in several respects. For one, it seemed somewhat derivative. I've seen this movie before, not least in Allen's own oeuvre. I kept feeling like I was watching Crimes and Misdemeanors with younger characters, less overt philosophizing, and no comic relief. SPOILERS COMING UP, SO STOP READING IF YOU WANT TO PRESERVE THE MYSTERY. I mean, guy has affair, the "other woman" threatens to tell the wife, so the guy is finally backed into a position where killing the "other woman" seems to be his best bet since his legit life is too good to surrender. Along with this basic plot comes C&M's question (less overt here) about whether it would be better to be caught or to get away with such a crime.
Another movie that came to mind was the Talented Mr. Ripley. I actually liked that movie--perhaps more than it deserved--partly because I think Jude Law was quite good in the film, partly because I think it was an homage to Hitchcock in many respects, and I think it worked on that level. When I saw Chris Wilton reading up on Crime and Punishment (and its Cambridge Companion) and then heard that he used that material to get in with his girlfriend's pop, I thought, here's the poor kid conning his way into a wealthy and powerful family. It was clear that he didn't really care that much about Chloe at any point in the movie (I found this particularly affecting because I thought she was lovely, bright, and joyful--I would like to marry her myself!), which just emphasized his cynicism and ambition. But this aspect of the plot is strangely neglected. We actually come to know very little about Chris's background or his aspirations and intentions. So the murder plot is all we're left with, and although it works, it is not particularly interesting in and of itself.
Finally, there's Scarlett Johansson, who was very sexy in the movie, but that was more or less it. She seems to be getting a lot of attention in the movie world these days, but I have yet to see her act in any way that would merit that attention. I feel like her allure is more in the Lolita sense (after Lost in Translation)--she is alluring and provocative, but doesn't seem to have much range. Most of her lines were delivered in a husky monotone that left me a bit drowsy. The only thing about her character that I found easy to believe (aside from the notion that someone might want to shoot her with a large gun) was that she was having trouble finding work as an actor. What is it with her? What do people see in her besides another pretty face--one that is slightly atypical in its allure? Like I said, this movie is not bad--it's just not quite the great work that I was expecting after hearing the hype. Perhaps some of the critics, like me, are longing for the return of Woody Allen so deeply that they invested this movie with a little more import than it actually possessed. I'm still waiting for the real Woody Allen to please stand up.