Matchstick Men (2003)
Directed by Ridley Scott
A phobic con artist and his protege are on the verge of pulling off a lucrative swindle when the con artist's teenage daughter arrives unexpectedly.
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What critics compared Matchstick Men to
Taking a page from his 2005 feature debut "Kiss Kiss, Bang Bang," writer-director Shane Black has made a tonally spry escapade with undeniable parallels to Robert Altman's "The Long Goodbye" (1973), Ridley Scott's " Matchstick Men " (2003), and Paul Thomas Anderson's " Inherent Vice " (2014).
There is something clearly fascinating about watching con artists on screen - maybe it's the thrill of seeing characters live by their wits under the constant threat of being caught (as in Catch Me If You Can) or perhaps, given that 99% of con movies pull some kind of trick on the audience, it's the opportunity to prove youself 'cleverer' than the film-makers by guessing the plot in advance.
Matchstick Men is set in a '60s-airport, hyper-modern L.A., with doses of Sinatra swank: Fine, if it didn't recall Steven Spielberg's far more soulful Catch Me If You Can (2002).
As Robert's older brother Charley Ford, Sam Rockwell ("Matchstick Men," "The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy") turns an initially simple man into one divided between friend and brother and later still a man eaten away by his brother's deed and subsequent behavior.
If you enjoy movies such as “Matchstick Men,” “House of Games” or “The Sting,” then you’ll appreciate this one.
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However, the very last scene brings another Scott film to mind: “Matchstick Men” (2003), a near perfect film that, nevertheless, Scott marred by forcing a last-minute happy ending on a story that didn’t need one.
…with as much flexibility and alacrity as slicker, more irreverent works like Matchstick Men…
Moments like those bring back memories of silly '80s comedies like "Funny Farm" or "The Money Pit," but it's that sort of oddball combination of influences that makes it clearly a Ridley Scott film, much like "Matchstick Men."
I have trouble with his ugly historical battlements (Gladiator, Kingdom of Heaven, Exodus: Gods and Kings), and his character pieces usually fall apart under his emotional stiff-arming (Matchstick Men, Body of Lies, the truly repellant The Counselor).
Much of Scott's reputation rests on his ability to conceive and execute elegant images, often in service of grim stories, so it's easy to forget how good he is at camaraderie and banter (see " Thelma and Louise " and " Matchstick Men ," among others).
The effect is much like the relationship in Matchstick Men between an obsessive-compulsive con-artist played by Nicholas Cage and the fourteen-year old daughter he never knew he had (played by Alison Lohman).