Worth Renting: ‘Matchstick Men’ On Video & DVD

Since we’ve already discussed The Passion of the Christ – which is still steamrolling along in theatres across the country, nearing the $300 million mark and becoming one of the 20 top-grossing films of all time – and there’s no way I’ll review last week’s top-grossing movie, the re-make Dawn of the Dead – simply put, I’m a scaredy-cat! – this week I’ll look at one of the nation’s top rentals, Matchstick Men, starring Nicolas Cage.

Although it feels like Cage has been spinning his wheels tackling muscle-bound action roles since his Oscar win for Leaving Las Vegas (The Rock, Con Air and Face/Off come to mind), he’s actually coming off an Oscar-nominated portrayal of twin brothers in Adaptation and here he gives another winning performance as tic-ridden con artist Roy Waller.

Roy is a likable fellow, albeit more than a bit neurotic and compulsive (he gives new meaning to the idea of having a morning routine). He’s paired up with a younger protégé, his slick sidekick Frank (Sam Rockwell), and the two of them are working on pulling off a lucrative scam, one with such a sizable payoff that Roy will be able to get out of the game for good and settle his frayed nerves.

However, just as their scheme gets underway, Roy is visited by a charming 14-year-old named Angela (Alison Lohman, a twenty-something successfully playing a much more youthful role than her charming performance in the recent Big Fish as Jessica Lange’s younger alter ego), who claims to be Roy’s daughter from a marriage that long ago fell apart. Against Roy’s wishes (and his numerous phobias and obsessive-compulsive routines), Angela works her way into his life and eventually even into his flim-flam schemes.

Lohman is quite good and her chemistry with Cage really helps the film evoke even more concern from the audience than you might expect from such an essentially lightweight caper. As another reviewer wrote, it would be a spoiler to tell you too many more story details about a movie built on grifting, double-crosses and the like, so suffice to say that the script by Ted Griffin (Ocean’s Eleven) and Nicholas Griffin, based on a book by Eric Garcia, has its share of plot twists, but what keeps it from being simply a twisty tale is not only the solid work by its cast, but the development (and growth) of its principal characters.

Originally released last fall, Matchstick Men was directed by Ridley Scott, whose last three films were the big event pictures of Gladiator, Black Hawk Down and Hannibal, and it features a much smaller, more intimate approach while keeping Scott’s trademark, visually stylish method of filmmaking. In fact, the film is actually very excitingly and lovingly shot, and although it’s a fairly human piece, it’s also very easy to remember that this is the master behind such cinematically visual flourishes as Blade Runner and Alien, as well as the aforementioned Gladiator and Black Hawk Down.

By the end, Scott impresses us most by giving his keenest attention to his actors, particularly Cage and Lohman, a pair that makes this movie worth renting.

Matchstick Men is rated PG-13 for thematic elements, language, a bit of somewhat surprising violence, and some sexually suggestive content.