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| A poster that doesn't attract much attention for Ridley Scott's Matchstick Men |
A deeply neurotic con artist experiences that his life is taking a very fresh turn, when he meets his 14 year-old daughter, and she begins to take an interest in his 'profession'.
Matchstick Men is written by brothers Ted Griffin (Ravenous (1999)) and Nicholas Griffin (Terriers (2010, TV-series)), adapting Eric Garcia's (The Materialist (2008)) same-titled 2002 novel, and directed by English master filmmaker Ridley Scott (The Duellists (1977)), whose 14th feature it is.
Nicolas Cage (Season of the Witch (2011)) impresses again as certainly one of the best living actors, and Alison Lohman (Alex in Wonder (2001)) gets a fierce, tremendous breakthrough role as his daughter. The psychiatrist is played with fine empathy by Bruce Altman (Show Me a Hero (2015, miniseries)).
The plot and execution works and is rather entertaining, - without revolutionizing with ingenuity in any way, - SPOILER and only towards the end a major twist for a while deflates the story and film, until a scene especially created for the film (not in the novel) restores some of its magic. The solution also heightens the always latent incestuous energy in Matchstick Men, which is never acted upon but which is always there as a piquant, transgressive element. Another unrelated reservation of mine; for no apparent, good reason Cage's character's ex-wife looks so much like the sweet cashier character in the film.
Matchstick Men is elevated most of all by Cage's masterful acting, which makes us sympathize somewhat with a very low con man.
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Watch a trailer for the film here
Cost: 62 mil. $
Box office: 65.5 mil. $
= Huge flop (returned 1.05 times its cost)
[Matchstick Men premiered 2 September (Venice Film Festival) and runs 116 minutes. Shooting took place from July - August 2002 in California, including Los Angeles, and in the Czech Republic. The film opened #2, behind fellow new release Once Upon a Time in Mexico, to a 13 mil. $ first weekend in North America, where it left the top 5 in its 2nd week and grossed 36.9 mil. $ (56.3 % of the total gross). The 2nd and 3rd biggest markets were Italy with 3.7 mil. $ (5.6 %) and Spain with 2.8 mil. $ (4.3 %). Roger Ebert gave the film a 4/4 star review, translating to 2 notches higher than this one. Scott returned with Kingdom of Heaven (2005). Cage returned in National Treasure (2004); Lohman in Big Fish (2003); and Sam Rockwell (Trolls World Tour (2020)) in Piccadilly Jim (2004). Matchstick Men is certified fresh at 82 % with a 7.10/10 critical average at Rotten Tomatoes.]
What do you think of Matchstick Men?
