It's official: Nicolas Cage is acting again. After winning a best actor trophy for his heart-wrenching performance in Leaving Las Vegas, more than a few people criticized him for chasing dollar signs instead of quality scripts. Well, if last year's Adaptation (and the resulting Oscar nomination) marked his return to the quality over bucks club, Matchstick Men confirms it was no accident. Not only does Cage deliver a terrific performance in a role that could very easily have been taken too far, the film is without a doubt one of the finest released so far this year.


With Ridley Scott behind the camera I expected Matchstick Men to be good, just not this good. It won't revolutionize filmmaking as we know it, nor will it clean up when it comes time to hand out awards, but it clearly wasn't designed to in the first place. However, I wouldn't be at all surprised to see it make a few top ten lists at the end of the year, possibly my own.

There's so much to like about Matchstick Men I hardly know where to start. First, the look and tone of the film established by Ridley Scott is absolutely perfect. It looks slick without being too pretty for its own good, which allows us to take the serious moments seriously while at the same time being able to break out in laughter when Cage's character freaks. Mostly, though, it's the cast that makes this film such a gem. Cage delivers all of his character's tics and other oddities in a way that is hilarious, but he does so without compromising who his character is and the troubles he has to deal with. His partner in crime is played by the extremely charismatic Sam Rockwell, who you will probably remember from Confessions of a Dangerous Mind. The guy eats up every precious minute of screen-time he has, and is well on his way to becoming a big star. Alison Lohman (White Oleander) rounds out the cast as Cage's 14-year-old daughter whom he's never met until now, and despite being 23 during filming, she's completely convincing as a young teenager. Put simply, all three actors are top-notch, and the combination is a pleasure to witness.

Matchstick Men ultimately works because of a solid screenplay by Ted & Nicholas Griffin, based on a book by Eric Garcia, which also happens to feature some clever cons. I was worried it would turn into a "con-man meets previously unknown daughter, learns to change bad ways" type of story; fortunately, the actual film is far from being conventional, and even includes a couple of great twists that I honestly didn't see coming. If this film is any indication of the quality to come this fall, you can expect to see me in a lot of movie theaters.

Posted September 15, 2003 | link