game set LET!

[orangerful]

We finished watching 'Match Point' tonight. That was an interesting movie. I'm not a big Woody Allen fan, but I don't mind staring at Scarlett Johanssen or Jonathan Rhys Meyers for a few hours. At least, I didn't think I minded. But this movie, labeled a "thriller", doesn't have the get up and go I was hoping for. It definately had a lot of the "arranging matches" elements of a regular Woody Allen film.



"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."

I'm not sure I ever liked the main character, Chris. I thought I would at first, because of the pretty that is Rhys Meyers but he's sort of an ass. I was never clear what his true motivation was. Was it just to be succesful? Was it just to have the classic defination of success? He was very good at insinuating himself into situations. The job at the tennis club. Just happening to befriend Mathew, a rich kid who has a single sister, Chloe. Mathew is also dating a very hot american, Nola (Johanssen). The movie is supposed to be this meditation on what is luck, or is there such thing as "luck". Though I felt like it lost that for a bit, they do talk about it a lot in the front and back half of the film. The more I think about the movie, the more I meant it feels like I'm supposed to sit there and pick it apart, examine when "lucky" things happen to Chris, examine what moments are like his imagined tennis match of life. But I really don't feel like watching it again right away.

Everyone is so BLOODY BRITISH! I could never tell if Chris was ever actually in love with Chloe because it was all so proper. With Nola, there was all this sexiness and banter and meaningful stares. With Chloe it was all this proper talk and "lets meet daddy!" stuff. And, to me at least, Chloe was not the love of his life, but just very adequate with lots of great connections to further his carreer and lifestyle. Chris pursues Nola until he thinks that she and Mathew will get married, then he marries Chloe. I think he does this to sort of obligate himself to stop going after Nola.

Anyway, if you don't like Jonathan Rhys Meyers or Scarlett Johanssen, do not watch this movie. Because they are this movie. 99.9% of the screen time will have at least one of them, if not both, up on your tv. I think people who like opera might enjoy it more too. I'm not a fan so the constant opera music/singing in the background was starting to slowly drive me insane.

I think this movie could have been a bit tighter here and there, but otherwise it was well done. Not the most original plot ever, but all of the acting was solid. I advise having a pillow around while you watch it because you may feel the need to smash your head into something.

I noticed on Netflix, the movie has a solid 3 stars - which is "I Liked It". And that seems about right. I didn't love it, I didn't really like it, but it wasn't a bad movie and I didn't hate it. So three stars, I liked it. Rent it, watch it, return it.

i'm sorta sleepy, I hope some of that made sense.

Comments

[vertigozooropa.livejournal.com]

I give it no stars, because it's an abrasive film with a protagonist I couldn't like for a minute. He has no qualities that made me want to go with him, and he squanders a good thing to sleep with a hottie, and when it all goes wrong, he murders her to save himself from inconvenience. I mean, he murders his mistress so his wife's family never finds out about her.

The end.

What kind of movie is that?

[(Anonymous)]

Ok, now that you've seen it, I can spill :-) First off, the friend I saw it with hated it. He felt that it was a story we'd seen a zillion times before, with no new twists, that it was way too slow, and he found the Rhys Meyers character too awful to even begin to care about. I agree that more could have been done with the story/theme, that it could have been paced better, and that it's difficult to relate to a group of characters all of whom are to some degree awful people. But there were things that redeemed the movie enough for me so that I can say that I liked it.

I guess I found it easier to see the whole thing through the Rhys-Meyers (Chris) character's eyes, even if he was despicable. What that says about me, I don't know. But even though I agree that the luck thing was dropped in the middle of the movie, you still had him using a combination of good fortune and, more importantly, very meticulous, crafty planning to position himself so that he is exactly where he wants to be in life (although what that actually got him, I don't know. What good is money and power if it means you have to split your time between a boring job and a boring family? But I guess for some people money and power mean everything.)

Anyway, he had everything perfectly planned, but what he didn't count on was that, even though he could seemingly control everyone around him, he couldn't control himself when faced with someone he actually loved (or at least lusted after). He does his best to fit Nola into his master plan, but there are limits to what one can orchestrate. And thus everything starts to unravel.. until the massive stroke of luck at the end.

Some other stuff- I thought Scarlett Johansson was amazing. Before this, I had just seen her stand around and look beautiful, so it was good to see that she can really act. I forget exactly why at this point, but the scene with her and Rhys-Meyers in the bar blew me away.

My friend saw the sister (Chloe) as being more sympathetic than I did, which is another reason he couldn't stand Chris. Since I was seeing things more through Chris's eyes, I saw Chloe as what men might fear when it comes to marriage- someone who becomes less attractive and interesting to them as time goes on, who keeps nattering on about home decorating and planning get-togethers and other inconsequential things as if they care. In Chloe's case, she's nice enough, but since she's always gotten everything she's wanted she's just too clueless to see what is obvious to us, that Chris is Just Not That Into Her.

Other than that.. I really liked the homage to Crime and Punishment at the end. But overall, I do agree that the movie should have done a bit more with a theme/story that we've certainly seen before (including in other Woody Allen films). I think that this movie may have gotten more praise than it deserved because everyone was so relieved that Woody still had a good movie in him. I just read that he's shooting his next movie in London as well, also with Scarlett Johansson, so we'll have to see if he's on a roll or this is just a blip!

[bittertwee.livejournal.com]

whoops- didn't sign in.. Of course the long winded comment above is me- who else would it be? :-P

[orangerful.livejournal.com]

haha yeah, it sounds like you had about the same reaction as me...except I didn't get the 'crime and punishment' bit since I've never read that. (actually this movie felt very...intellectual? Like if I'd read/watched other "classics" of it's genre I would have noticed more little things). Everyone in the film was a jerk, but at least Chris has worked his way up, at least, that's what we were led to believe. He had started small and become big, while Mathew and Chloe were raised rich.

And when Chloe started babbling about wanting babies, I lost all my sympathy for her. She went from the girlfriend who treats her boyfriend more like a pet, bringing him out to show and obviously choosing someone her parents would approve of, to this wife who wanted her 3 kids now! Ugh. No wonder he went to another woman!

It was definately a movie that got better the more I thought about it. As I was typing up the bit last night, I started to go over it in my head and sort of see the bits of "luck" that popped up. But I think it could have been a quicker movie, at least in the beginning it felt very plodding. Especially since the moment Chris and Nola met you KNEW they were going to have to get it on. Not just because they were the two most beautiful people in the film, but because of their immediate chemistry. So why drag it all out?

I do agree that a lot of the movie's praise came from the fact that Woody Allen was able to make a good movie again.