Matchstick Men (2003)

MATCHSTICK MEN
A film review by David N. Butterworth
Copyright 2003 David N. Butterworth

**1/2 (out of ****)

After the uncompromising "Thirteen," in which a mother and her teenage daughter rarely seemed to inhabit the same planet let alone household, it's nice to see a father and *his* teenage daughter working so well together in "Matchstick Men," even if the work in question is, well, questionable.

Roy Waller (Nicolas Cage) is a con man, a flimflam man, a matchstick man. He also suffers from a severe case of obsessive-compulsive disorder, much like Jack Nicholson's Melvin Udall in "As Good As It Gets." Alternately afraid of dirt and the great outdoors, Roy obsessively cleans his swank Southern California home, purchased by greedy people who choose to *give* him money (Roy's rationalization for what he does for a living), scrutinizing his carpet for stains, food, or strands of errant pile. He unlatches doors and chain locks once, twice, three times before opening them. He eats nothing but tuna fish straight from the can.

And to look at, Roy is one jittery mess of nervous energy and unsightly facial twitches.

His partner, Frank (a charming Sam Rockwell) sometimes makes fun of--but largely tolerates--Roy's antisocial behavior because Roy is good at his job. Roy has a ceramic bulldog brimming with cash and a safety deposit box stuffed with even more greenbacks to prove it. But when Roy accidentally flushes his medication down the garbage disposal he's forced to hook up with a shrink (nicely played by Bruce Altman) in an attempt to have his prescription refilled. Roy gets more than he bargained for, however, including the knowledge that fourteen years ago his ex-wife gave birth to a daughter who also happens to be Roy's.

Angela ("White Oleander"'s Alison Lohman) is a significant disruption in Roy's neatly ordered yet chaotic lifestyle. And while the two initially have little in common, Roy feels the paternal urge to teach his daughter a few tricks of the confidence trade.

While Lohman is delightful (and clearly the best thing about "Matchstick Men"), Ryan O'Neal and his real life daughter Tatum worked this territory much more effectively 30 years ago in "Paper Moon." Cage is, I'm afraid, part of the problem. In recent years he's deteriorated into a caricature of himself, whether playing a military man ("Windtalkers," "Captain Corelli's Mandolin"), a family man ("The Family Man"), or a man driven by chronic single-mindedness ("8MM," "Gone in Sixty Seconds"). In "Matchstick Men" Nic plays Nic with a tic; his neurosis is distracting, disqualifying. I can bear watching Cage act, but I hate to see him overreact.

And while on the subject of finger pointing, "Matchstick Men" proves too much of a departure for veteran director Ridley Scott, who's more comfortable helming grandiose historical epics ("Gladiator"), big budget military conflicts ("Black Hawk Down"), and graphic serial novelizations ("Hannibal") than small-time grifts like this one. You'd expect a fledgling filmmaker to use jump cuts, for example, to mimic Roy's medical condition, but Scott bludgeons the technique to death. Perhaps if the cons themselves were more involved, more creative we could excuse Scott a little obviousness here and there but they're not. The Big Con in "Matchstick Men" involves switching a briefcase full of $80,000 with one that isn't.

"Matchstick Men" is crisp and cleanly shot and engagingly acted (especially by the 24-year-old (!) Lohman, who shows up her more experienced counterparts). But it winds up feeling like Roy's place--sterile, antiseptic, and not somewhere you'd want to spend a whole lot of time.

--
David N. Butterworth
dnb@dca.net

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X-Language: en
X-RT-ReviewID: 1198013
X-RT-TitleID: 1125588
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X-RT-RatingText: 2.5/4