Match Point

"So who will be my next victim? You?" Master Allen has found a new muse, moved to London - and shocked the whole world with a total change of genre. He shocked me too, but in the most positive way. Woody touches the conscience of all sinners and wrongdoers while sympathizing with them carefully. By not appearing in the film himself, he gives the viewer a sense of a personal masterpiece and perhaps even confession. At this moment, I feel like we haven't had such a masterpiece from him in a sea of years, especially in a more serious genre branch. Moreover, both the incredibly seductive Scarlett and the incredibly credible Meyers are going full force and make Match Point possibly one of the director's Top 3. (12/16/2006)

When the main "hero" of Woody Allen's film (the supremely unsympathetic Jonathan Rhys Meyers) reads Dostoyevsky's ‘Crime and Punishment", it can't turn out particularly well for him... Or can it? Match Point is an excellent spectacle. It doesn't matter that almost nothing happens during the first hour that the viewer wouldn't expect, because what happens next and especially at the end makes up for it. However, I have to disagree with the opinions that there is no humor in the film. There is. It's black through and through, but it's there. (07/09/2015)

Romance novel material. Or maybe even lust novel. After many years of not such good movies, Woody really needed the ball to fall on the right side of the net, even if it meant a drop shot. Moving the acting to London giving it a hint of Hitchcock won him the entire match. And as his following movies show, this was no swan song or stroke of luck. Thank god. (12/26/2008)

Unfortunately, the final quarter of the film is very different from the rest in terms of its concept, which downgrades the overall impression by at least a notch. From a fairly promising, decently acted, and emotionally powerful film, in the final moments it becomes a comical farce, humorous on its own but not quite fitting. Woody Allen makes the most out of the minimum, he pics talented actors and an attractive theme (a love triangle), places them in an even more attractive setting (English high society), and complements everything with sharp and dynamically written dialogues. But no matter how good the film may seem at the beginning, the ending is very bad and disappointing. Overall, it's something between three and four stars. (03/24/2006)

My relationship with Woody Allen's films has evolved (or perhaps is still evolving). There was a time when I was crazy about his films, but my enthusiasm has somewhat waned since then and I'll have to revise some of my ratings. This does not affect Match Point, though. Not only is it not a comedy, but it has an interesting plot, and the personality of the main "hero" goes through an interesting development. Personally, I always appreciate a film about a spineless, self-centered asshole. I can finally experience emotions that I don’t get to feel often when watching movies. Filmmakers always try to move me or thrill me, but sometimes it's also nice to feel disgusted and repulsed by some asshole's actions. To my satisfaction, this movie does a great job of it. (12/24/2021)