Match Point
I’m not really a Woody Allen fan. That is to say, I saw Annie Hall and thought it was pretty funny. That’s the extent of my familiarity with the director, so I can’t say one way or another whether this is “Woody Allen’s return to form!” like all the other critics. Taken on its own, though, Match Point is brilliant.
The characters are all broadly-drawn assholes with few redeeming qualities, making it nearly impossible to feel much sympathy for them, but the story more than makes up for their shortcomings. Match Point is tense and exciting and unpredictable enough to elicit a collective ‘Holy Shit’ gasp just a moment or two from the credits. Had I put off making my top ten list of 2005 a little longer, this might have made it; an Oscar nomination for screenplay wouldn’t surprise me.
January 10, 2006 - 03:22 PM