It's a blah little exploitation picture that thinks it's a deep humanist parable.
Comment
09/15/03
Matchstick Men (2003)
83
%
Tomatometer
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Reviews Counted:179
Fresh:148
Rotten:31
Average Rating:7.1/10
Consensus: Breezy and well-acted, Matchstick Men focuses more on the characters than on the con.
Runtime: 1 hr 56 mins
Genre: Dramas
Synopsis: Meet Roy (NICOLAS CAGE) and Frank (SAM ROCKWELL), a couple of pros at the small-time con. As in con artists. Grifters. Matchstick Men. Take your pick. What Roy, a veteran of the grift, and... [More]
Starring: Nicolas Cage, Sam Rockwell, Alison Lohman, Bruce McGill
Director: Ridley Scott
Reviews for Matchstick Men
An uneven but engagingly quirky comedy-drama driven first by character, second by plot formulas, Cage is surprisingly convincing despite seeming at first like the wrong choice.
09/15/03
The sleight of mind takes you in like any patsy, providing the pleasures that deception (of the other guy) gives us.
09/15/03
...has so much sheer style and class that it more closely resembles an old Rat Pack project than a modern-day popcorn dud.
09/15/03
It's hard to say who exhibits more nervous tics -- star Cage, overdoing it as an agoraphobic con man or director Scott, clearly uncomfortable with small and intimate.
09/15/03
Those who anticipate the twist ending are likely to leave the theater feeling conned themselves..
09/15/03
Scott and company have approached the film intelligently and have thankfully credited their viewers with having brains as well.
09/15/03
One of the few con jobs since The Grifters that cheats its characters, not its audience.
09/14/03
The story's a bit on the traditional side (it could be pitched as "Catch Me If You Can" meets "Ocean's 11"), but the three leads make it an enticing and tense caper flick.
09/14/03
The fusion of Matchstick Men's usual conman life lesson with the father-daughter business is awkward and rushed by film's end. The pieces come together precisely, but sentimentally.
09/14/03
What you call hell, Ridley Scott calls a "WHACKY" caper!
09/13/03
As one would expect from Ridley Scott, Matchstick Men is a visually innovative exercise.
09/13/03
Matchstick Men isn't even remotely intricate; it's not even particularly interesting.
09/13/03
For the sheer promise it held for so long, and its jarring plunge into maddening mediocrity by the end credits roll, Matchstick Men may just rank as the most disappointing film of the year.
09/12/03
A well-structured vehicle that delivers an enjoyable and entertaining ride.
09/12/03
...a well acted, highly stylized, and very entertaining romp that unfolds on the screen with natural aplomb, elicits laughs, perhaps a few tears, but will ultimately fade from memory once you exit the theater.
09/12/03
Alison Lohman effectively brings out how a teen girl can be both a delight and an albatross.
09/12/03
I wish "Matchstick Men" kept me in the dark longer than it does leading to the climax. It is a real pleasure, though, to see Cage in thesping form again.
09/12/03
An amusing enough, moderately clever movie, but most of it is rather one-note.
09/12/03
Figuring out the ending is only half the fun, anyway; watching a master helmer like Scott navigate through the twists and turns of Matchstick Men is really the more interesting journey.
09/12/03
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