"The man who said "I'd rather be lucky than good" saw deeply into life. People are often afraid to realize how much of an impact luck plays. There are moments in a tennis match where the ball hits the top of the net, and for a split second, remains in mid-air. With a little luck, the ball goes over, and you win. Or maybe it doesn't, and you lose."
So says Chris Wilton (Jonathan Rhys Meyers), speaking to the audience at the beginning of Woody Allen’s Match Point. His words reflect a very cynical way to interpret the world, but then again, Woody Allen is one of film’s premier cynics. By the end of the film, Chris’ philosophy will be proven correct.
Match Point is a beautifully plotted thriller that relishes in the slow burn of its plot. Unlike most contemporary thrillers, it bothers to be engaging and rewardingly meticulous. Written and directed with great calm, the plot carefully builds itself like a stack of Legos, the proper pieces fitting dutifully on top of one another until we have the finished product.
Chris’ begins the film as the new tennis pro at a swanky British country club. He played in the big leagues, but never got too far; he may not have been good enough, though his eagerness to take shortcuts implies he just wasn’t willing to go the extra mile to be a champion.
Nary an hour goes by before Chris befriends Tom(Matthew Goode), the spoiled son of a wealthy businessman(Brian Cox). Tom’s sister Chloe(Emily Mortimer) zeroes in on Chris, enamored with his sly charm and good looks. Chris takes advantage, deftly milking the family for what he can. He knows that he essentially serves as a trophy husband/son-in-law for the father, but he doesn’t mind, because riding around in a limo beats teaching pampered brats tennis any day of the week. Chris’ problems begin when he meets and becomes smitten with Nola (Scarlett Johansson), Tom’s American fiancée.
Smitten may be the wrong word; fascinated works better. Chris, being a sociopath, can never really fall in love, but he can develop an interest in gorgeous, forbidden fruit. Nola quickly succumbs to Chris’ charm, causing him to eagerly dismiss himself from Chole at any available opportunity. Of course, when having a clandestine affair, most of the fun doesn’t come from the sex, but the thrill of doing something you aren’t supposed to. Eventually, Chris winds up with potential repercussions he might not be willing to handle. The same goes for everyone else, because little is more dangerous than a cornered sociopath.
Allen wisely skips the usual quasi-quirky New York dialogue found in his films and substitutes it with stuffy, effective banter that works fabulously and sounds very realistic. Some British critics chided the absence of the British dialect’s color, but overlook the functionality and cold sterility of the dialogue, which reminds us of who we are watching. The characters are naïve at best, evil at worst, and the use of language reflects it. We’re not dealing with happy people, but with individuals who take what they can when they can get it.
The film’s ending is both appropriate and satisfying, obeying Chris’ philosophy in a fiendishly unexpected way. Every day our lives are affected by millions of events that we have no control over, and that blind luck can play a bizarre role in. Unlike most thrillers, which aim primarily to entertain and then end, Match Point gives us something to seriously think about. Audiences will greatly appreciate being able to intelligently discuss the characters and their actions instead of being forced to pick apart the holes of the plot. Critics have said Match Point represents a return to form for Woody Allen, but with a film this good, it’s hard to believe he ever lost it in the first place.
4.5 out of 5
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