Match Point

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Jonathan Rhys Meyers plays a former tennis pro who befriends a very rich guy, woos his sister while starting an affair with his friend’s fiance, Scarlett Johansson.

You would never know this movie was directed by Woody Allen if someone didn’t tell you. It isn’t set in New York, like all his other movies, but London. The main character isn’t Woody Allen nor does he inhabit Woody Allen’s extremely annoying personality traits. I’ve only watched a few Woody Allen films, and liked the earlier ones (Annie Hall, Manhattan), but have not been fond of anything I have seen lately. They all seemed to turn into Woody Allen hitting on much younger women (Mighty Aphrodite). To have this movie not have any of those traits is great. The character do love to talk at times, but I think the London setting and the British characters doing most of the talking, really sets it apart from his other movies.

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Getting beyond all of that, the movie still has to be entertaining. It is. Jonathan Rhys Meyers plays Chris, who could be a complete sleaze. He was never good enough at tennis to be super famous and rich, but he wants it so badly. It appears that he befriends the rich guy and his sister in order to marry into the family. Then he meets Scarlett Johansson (Nola), who is his friend’s American actress fiance. They immediately flirt with one another and there is major chemistry going on between them. She tells him nothing can happen. He knows it would be disastrous and mess up his other plans, but still lusts after her. It would be so easy to make you hate the character, but you don’t hate Chris. At times, I would want him to go after Nola since his marriage has no spark and is boring. Other times, you want him to make his marriage work and enjoy his very nice life.

Scarlett Johansson actually gets a chance to act again, which I really haven’t seen since Lost in Translation. She didn’t get to do much in In Good Company, other than look pretty. She makes you lust, hate, sympathize and feel pity for her character.

The ending was quite shocking. I did not see it coming, and even when I knew what was about to happen, I really didn’t believe it was about to happen. You know an affair that is goes on as long as this one does, is not going to end well, but the way the movie ended was surprising.

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