MATCH POINT Review Pt.2 – Jonathan Rhys Meyers, Scarlett Johansson

Jonathan Rhys Meyers, Scarlett Johansson in Woody Allen's Match Point

MATCH POINT Review: Part I

Emmy nominee Jonathan Rhys Meyers, a sort of Irish Joaquin Phoenix, brings to Chris the required mix of vulnerability, self-resilience, and obsession — mercifully without any Allenesque mannerisms. Although no more than competent in the first half of the film, Rhys Meyers' acting skills seem to evolve so as to match his character's increasing sense of despair.

Alternating with equal ease between femme fatale, sex object, and neurotic nag, Scarlett Johansson delivers what is quite possibly her most effective film performance to date. Both Emily Mortimer and Matthew Goode, a stage-trained actor who's a (more likable) cross between Hugh Grant and Rupert Everett, provide solid support as the Hewett siblings — too privileged to be distrustful, too likable to be despicable — and so does Brian Cox as the generous Hewett patriarch. Yet, Penelope Wilton is the one who steals the show whenever she's on screen. A milder, British version of the domineering mothers of several of Woody Allen's New York-based comedies, Wilton's outspoken matriarch is always meddling in her children's affairs.

Now, much has been said about Woody Allen having returned to form with Match Point, the director's first non-American production shot overseas, but that is only partly true. Though certainly the best Allen effort since the 1994 black comedy Bullets Over Broadway, Match Point is unlike anything the director has done before.

In spite of certain similarities with his superior 1989 comedy-drama Crimes and Misdemeanors, Match Point is basically a drama (with quirky humorous bits here and there) and it is less about divine justice — or lack thereof — than it is about the lack of a divinity, period. And though nearly as "serious" as his Ingmar Bergman-inspired dramas such as Interiors and Another Woman, Match Point is less about interpersonal relationships than it is about the machinations of fate.

In any case, what matters is that despite its lengthy 124-minute running time, Match Point never sags. Instead, Allen's tight rein allows the drama to play out like a slow-burning, pardon the oxymoron, well-lit film noir. Cinematographer Remi Adefarasin (whose previous works include films as diverse as Elizabeth and About a Boy) uses soft colors, grays, and pastels to capture the British ambiance, while editor Alisa Lepselter, who has worked in all of Allen's latest films, carefully builds up the pacing so as to maximize the impact of the film's epilogue. The final twenty minutes, in particular, are as tautly controlled as the climax in Alfred Hitchcock's Vertigo or Fred Zinnemann's The Day of the Jackal.

But does Allen fully succeed in making his philosophical point? Well, not quite, for Match Point contains numerous elements that betray Allen's premise that we're all particles of dust floating in the void of a random universe. For instance, Chris' predicament is a direct result of his decision to jump into a marriage of convenience. Unlike his burning desire for Nola, his marriage to Chloe is a choice.

Additionally, his advances in the firm may be in good part the result of his personal association with the Hewett patriarch, but it is also the consequence of Chris' determination to succeed. He goes to work every day, he attends meetings; and he displays an innate talent for dealing with the company's clients. The means he uses to solve his Chloe vs. Nola dilemma is also a logical — if, shall we say, highly questionable — choice. In other words, Chris' initial success and eventual tragedy are to a large extent of his own making. What happens after he has set things in motion may be a matter of chance, but those events take place only because Chris has actively gotten the ball rolling.

Chance may bring people and circumstances into our lives, but fatalities and assorted catastrophes aside it is ultimately up to us to makethe best — or the worst — of what comes our way. Whether chance or a film distributor brings Match Point to your local theater, it is up to you to make the best of it by going to see this fine, intelligent film.

Note: A version of this Match Point review was initially posted in December 2005.