Game, Set and Match Point

Match Point is Woody Allen’s latest film, and it’s a departure of sorts. It’s a very serious thriller starring Jonathan Rhys-Meyers and Scarlett Johansson. Unfortunately, it’s also a profoundly ordinary thriller, with a single, predictable plot, stereotypical characters and a turgid pace.

The film tells the story of Chris Wilton (Rhys-Meyers), an Irish tennis pro who becomes connected to the Hewetts, an upper class English family in London. Wilton befriends Tom Hewett (Matthew Goode), starts dating his sister Chloe and falls hard for his fiance, Nola (Johansson). I’ve just described the entire plot of the film’s first hour. I won’t tell any more, but suffice it to say that it doesn’t improve. It’s a plot that would feel shallow and pat in an episode of CSI, let alone a 124 minute movie.

I know that Woody Allen has spent plenty of time in Europe, but his script sounds like it’s written by a New Yorker who’s never left the five boroughs. It’s full of British cliches–there’s skeet shooting, brandy in the library, box seats at the opera and plenty of ‘cheers’ and ‘brilliant’. For a writer who usually offers witty, colourful dialogue, this film is utterly mundane. There are some obvious connections between Wilton’s tennis background and the parlor game of hearts he plays in the film, but they’re pretty obivous. Additionally, Allen seems dedicated to making the film as unfunny as possible. Doesn’t he know the best thrillers use comedy to lighten a tense moment or change the pace?

I think I’ve been somewhat intoxicated by Scarlett Johansson’s beauty. It took the Chicago Sun-Times’s Richard Roeper’s review of the film to point out that she “seems a bit stiff and self-aware for the moment”. As I look over her young career and get past her striking looks, I’ve been totally underwhelmed by her performances. She’s a passive, uncreative performer who’s getting by on her beauty. Roeper rightfully compares her in this film to Emily Mortimer, who is a fantastic actor, and is largely wasted as the cliched clinging wife.

I’ve enjoyed most of Woody Allen’s movies. His scripts are usually evocative, compelling and very watchable. Sadly, Match Point is none of these. It’s an trite, shoddy piece, with none of his previous films’ wit or originality.

But what do I know? Most other critics liked it. Having read several of the fawning reviews, it sounds to me like critics are relieved to see something different from Allen.

UPDATE: Some bogosity with commenting on this entry. Hang tough. Ah, all better now.