Really Surprised!

Must See Movie...

How sad is this?

A brilliant film that helped define a genre

Say what you want about Woody Allen, the guy makes some good films. He makes some bad films too. Heck, he's made a movie every year for the last four decades, there's bound to be one or two stinkers in there. But Match Point, for my money, is his best yet.It's just so different. It is his most different work from anything else he has done and, unlike his other films, it is not immediately identifiable as A Woody Allen film, if not for his name in the credits. That's a good thing by the way. Different is good.But moreover, it's different from anything I've ever seen before or since. Not so different that it feels TOO different. It's still very fun, unpredictable, and keeps you on the edge of your seat right up until the end, and then sends you home with a an ear-to-ear grin on your face. See it if you haven't yet. Tell your friends to see it. It's very good.

By exactly the 115 minute of this film's runtime I already made up my mind this film was a four as I saw how boringly obvious the end was going to, but exactly two minutes before the end the FOUR turned to an EIGHT just suddenly! As simple as the end was, it also was a mind flipping! WATCH IT, Scarlet looked fantastic too ;)

Woody Allen is amazing in the sense that he writes the same story for decades with slight discrepancies and varying plot twists. Therefore it is no surprise that once in a while these stories would resonate with any viewer. In the case the viewers have the patience to watch them all, that is.Anyhow, Match Point is one of my favorite Woody Allen movies. For some reason it struck a chord, whether it was the circumstances i was in or the situation it depicted.At the time i was interested in business in a broad academic sense of the word. An the fact that a business degree might merely be a ticket to ride the train of the big bucks has been underlined by the movie. The main protagonist enters that world due the fact that someone with a position liked him, not because he has any knowledge about anything relevant.The impending global financial crisis that ensued a couple of years after this movie was one of those moments where viewers might even claim how Woody Allen predicted it all.On a more basic level, the sexual tension between Scarlett Johansson and Jonathan Rhys Meyers and his ambivalence towards Emily Mortimer were depicted amazingly. Otherwise some thoughts on crime and punishment are showcased, a somewhat omnipresent motif in Woody Allen's work.To sum it all up, if you like the movies by the same author, you'd like this one. Otherwise you might be looking for another movie...

Match Point isn't a wholly original Woody Allen movie, building on similar ground covered in Crimes and Misdemeanors (just without the comedy subplot and Bergmanesque philosophizing), but it's definitely one of Woody's better films in his recent output, and certainly the best of his European movies. The chemistry between Scarlett Johansson and Jonathan Rhys Meyers is excellent, as is rest of the acting. The themes of luck, infidelity and morality are well implemented into the plot here and aren't as forced as some of Allen's other dramas.My only complaint is that some of the dialog feels very expository and just for the sake of forwarding the plot and setting up the next scene, whereas other Woody Allen movies hide this better behind witty, conversational dialog.But it's good to see a seasoned Director do something different, and succeed in most regards.