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By Douglas Wood
Rated PG-13
Currently streaming on Amazon Prime, Apple TV+ and YouTube
“You’re not a bad guy, just not a very good one.” This is how Roy Waller’s 14-year-old daughter succinctly sums up her no-longer-estranged dad in the highly underrated black comedy caper, Matchstick Men. Roy (Nicholas Cage) is a con man, or as he prefers, “con artist.” Despite suffering from a crippling case of OCD and borderline Tourettes, he manages, with his roguish protégé, Frank Mercer (Sam Rockwell), to bilk unsuspecting victims out of money via manipulative phone scams. Roy’s many compulsions include opening and closing doors three times in a row, eating only canned tuna for meals, and neatly displaying his abundant cleaning products as if they were cherished Hummel figurines.
When Roy accidentally spills his medication down the drain, he experiences a full-blown panic attack that’s magnified when he discovers his shrink has skipped town. Frank hooks him up with a psychiatrist, Dr. Harris Klein (Bruce Altman), who provides Roy with a sympathetic ear, and even better, meds. In the course of his therapy, Roy comes to appreciate that reconnecting with his ex-wife, Heather, might help him assuage his guilt over divorcing her when she was pregnant. But Roy’s fears get the better of him and he’s unable to make the call. Instead, Dr. Harris does, and discovers Roy has a fourteen-year-old daughter, Angela, played by an astonishingly convincing Alison Lohman, who was twenty-three at the time.
After a fight with her mother, pig-tailed Angela skateboards into Roy’s life and suddenly the film enters Paper Moon territory. Angela puts two and two together and realizes her dad is not, in fact, “in antiques,” but leads a life of crime. She pleads with him to teach her a few tricks and as it turns out, she has her own gift for grift. Roy reluctantly agrees to let her take part in a heist that Frank has cooked up, with considerably higher stakes than his previous flimflams— swindling a sleazy businessman (Bruce McGill) in a scheme to launder large sums of British money for profit.
What ensues is a plot that employs the twists one expects from this genre, including a doozy near the end. But what distinguishes Matchstick Men from other such films is that the primary focus is on the complex father-daughter relationship rather than the “sting,” which is at times suspenseful but not especially distinctive. The film expertly explores the dynamics between a free-spirited adolescent who isn’t yet aware that the world can be a dark place, and a lonely man with a risky career and rigid lifestyle that’s been carefully constructed to minimize a debilitating illness. The poignancy that develops from this relationship sneaks up on you.
The sophisticated script, by brothers Ted and Nicholas Griffin, adapted from the novel by Eric Garcia, doesn’t rely on one-liners or schtick. It’s consistently funny in the best possible way—through comedy that arises from vibrant, well fleshed-out characters such as Frank, who in the hands of Rockwell (so memorable in the third season of HBO’s White Lotus), brings an edgy energy to the film. His partnership with Roy has a warm comedy duo vibe and develops in an unexpected way.
Cage purchased the film rights for the book before it was published; his instincts were sharp— the story is tailor-made for his considerable talents. He’s been known to chew up scenery like a puppy with a new shoe and he’s undeniably an acquired taste, but it’s hard to dismiss his fine work here and in films such as Moonstruck, Leaving Las Vegas and Birdy (to name but a few.)
Cage achieves the near-impossible in Matchstick Men—he’s able to sympathetically portray a frazzled, afflicted person consumed by tics and twitches without resorting to exploitation or caricature. He even manages to get laughs without offending, as when, in a particularly manic panic, Roy tries to get drugs without a prescription from a pharmacist. Another hilarious moment has him grappling frustratedly for the right words as he chides Angela by hurling a bunch of parental clichés at her: “You’re a nosy Parker! That’s no way for a young lady to behave!” and, rubbing one forefinger against the other, “shame on you!”
As Angela, Alison Lohman more than holds her own. Her powerful lead performance in White Oleander put her on the map, but it didn’t give her the opportunity to show her lighter, more comedic side. Her performance here is touching, but also uninhibitedly playful, and when she laughs at Roy’s outbursts, we’re able to see the compassion and affection she has for him. Sadly, Lohman retired from acting in 2009.
Studio movies such as this often feel as if they’re created by committee—they hit all the expected beats on cue but are rarely inspired. That’s not the case with Matchstick Men, which was directed by Ridley Scott. Yes, Ridley Scott whose films include action-packed epics like Gladiator, Blade Runner and Black Hawk Down. Who knew his working on a smaller, more human scale would be so creatively (if not commercially) successful? With its snazzy Frank Sinatra-laden soundtrack, art direction that flirts with retro film noir elements (Venetian blinds, L.A. palm trees) and Cage’s sad eyes, the movie has soul.
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