The "caper" genre of film is one of the most successfully formulaic in modern cinema. Typically, these films tell the story of a loveable and charming conman or thief who is seen for his true good, despite his crimes, and pulls off a spectacular heist or swindle, narrowly avoiding the grasps of corrupt police officers or crooked victims of his crime who chase to protagonist throughout the story. In fact, the writers of "Matchstick Men" are most famous for their work on "Ocean's Eleven," one of the most successful recent caper flicks.
However, a combination of top quality direction on the part of veteran Ridley Scott ("Hannibal" and "Gladiator" to name just a few), a good baseline story from Eric Garcia's novel of the same name and solid writing from the Griffin brothers weave a story that is powerful not only in its technical plotting but also in its subtle construction of characters and blatant nose — thumbing at the caper archetype.
"Matchstick Men" tells the story of an obsessive compulsive con artist: Roy Waller (Nicolas Cage) who lives a lonely, dead-end life of crime. His fragmented life is troubled by the ghost of his only love, who left him decade and a half before the start of the film.
On the advice of his partner, Frank Mercer (Sam Rockwell of "Charlie's Angels" and "Galaxy Quest"), Roy sees a psychologist Dr. Klein (Bruce Altman of "Girl Interrupted" and "Changing Lanes"). Through his relationship with Klein, Roy learns that the child his wife was pregnant with when she left him has now grown into the beautiful 14-year-old Angela (Alison Lohman of "White Oleander"), who Roy grudgingly begins to find a space for in his life, both personal and eventually professional.
As Roy works to overcome his crippling psychological disorders, take care of mixed blessing Angela is in his life and pull one of the biggest confidence schemes of his life, Roy sees the flaws of the life he has led and is redeemed not through his charm or derring do, but through the genuine goodness of his character hidden behind years of crime.
The ending of the film is by far the best part and is quite unexpected; it leaves the audience overwhelmed (like "The Sixth Sense did) with the head-smacking feeling of "I should have known it" that is the signature of every great surprise ending.
But what is more impressive is the dramatic reversal of tone the film undergoes; while it begins with a similar feeling to one of the less glamorous of average capers, it ends on a profoundly different note.
Instead of promoting the classically irresponsible plight of the dashing gentleman thief whose personal qualities make up for his lifestyle and a sort of amoral emotionalism of personal identification, "Matchstick Men" constructs a far more nuanced and socially important theme.
Painting a more realistic view of con artists, "Matchstick Men" reminds us that while we can sympathize with individuals caught in a life of crime, in the long-run crime does not create happiness (or, "does not pay") and that there is no honor among thieves.
Even more morally challenging and fascinating, "Matchstick Men" makes us think carefully about the nature of emotional attachment, trust and the natural human urge to follow one's heart wherever loving devotion may call it.
Despite all this, the film falls short of brilliance. Lohman is mediocre, though her ability to portray so convincingly a girl 10 years her junior is impressive.
Cage, while convincingly neurotic, does not portray the full emotional range of his character in an original or particularly powerful way. Cage's neuroses and their causes are generally under-explicated.
Even the ending suffers as some strings remain untied and some connections are difficult for the audience to make on its own without the little more help left unprovided by the filmmakers.
Nonetheless, the good generally outweighs the not so good. The film's cinematography is quite strong as one would expect from John Mathieson ("Gladiator" and "Hannibal") and interesting shots from Roy's perspective during his seizures add something to our understanding of his condition. Mathieson also plays well with the Los Angeles sun for a visual show that keeps the viewer involved in the film even in its slowest scenes.
Realism is a key contributing element, violating the characteristic absurdity of most action/caper movies; the film's lone car chase involves driving that most Princeton students would be capable of and characters never perform the superhuman physical feats that the modern cinema audience has become so familiar with.
Overall, "Matchstick Men" is quite entertaining, surprisingly thoughtful, and well worth the price of a student ticket and a few hours on a Friday night if you can find a theater where it is playing now that the UA Market Fair Movies has imprudently sent it packing.
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