Rotten Tomatoes Logo Do you want to see ‘Match Point’?

Match Point (2005)

tomatometer

77

Average Rating: 7.2/10
Reviews Counted: 205
Fresh: 158 | Rotten: 47

Woody Allen's sharpest film in years, Match Point is a taut, philosophical thriller about class and infidelity.

90

Average Rating: 7.9/10
Critic Reviews: 41
Fresh: 37 | Rotten: 4

Woody Allen's sharpest film in years, Match Point is a taut, philosophical thriller about class and infidelity.

audience

78

liked it
Average Rating: 3.4/5
User Ratings: 227,494

My Rating

Movie Info

A clandestine love affair sends one man's charmed life into a tailspin in this dark, disturbing drama written and directed by Woody Allen, his first film set and shot in Great Britain and one his few films sans any humor. Chris Wilton (Jonathan Rhys-Meyers) is an Irish tennis player with an impoverished background. Just accomplished enough to make his way onto the professional circuit, but not skilled enough to be a consistent winner, he now works as an instructor at a London tennis club. The

R, 2 hr. 4 min.

Mystery & Suspense, Drama

Woody Allen

Apr 25, 2006

$23.1M

Dreamworks

Cast

All Critics (213) | Top Critics (42) | Fresh (159) | Rotten (48) | DVD (20)

... a nifty little crowd pleaser ...

January 20, 2006 Full Review Source: Toronto Star | Comment
Toronto Star
Top Critic IconTop Critic

Match Point is airless, repetitive.

January 20, 2006 Full Review Source: Orlando Sentinel | Comment
Orlando Sentinel
Top Critic IconTop Critic

In every scene, Allen's direction is unflinchingly clear-eyed, and it's a pleasure being walked through London at the same unhurried pace that he's taken through Manhattan all these years.

January 20, 2006 Full Review Source: Houston Chronicle | Comment
Houston Chronicle
Top Critic IconTop Critic

Johansson finds her own speech rhythms in Allen's arch dialogue, and in the process, gives his film a quality that his recent work has often lacked, the recognizable flutter of a heart beat behind the façade of the character.

January 20, 2006 Full Review Source: Globe and Mail | Comment
Globe and Mail
Top Critic IconTop Critic

This is Woody beyond Woody, his best work in more than a decade and the antithesis of most fans' expectations.

January 20, 2006 Full Review Source: Detroit News | Comment
Detroit News
Top Critic IconTop Critic

Match Point, a film that makes us examine well-considered questions in new light, is what Woody Allen sees when he gets out of his comfort zone, we can only hope he sees the benefit of travel.

January 20, 2006 Full Review Source: Detroit Free Press | Comment
Detroit Free Press
Top Critic IconTop Critic

This lean, mean, surprisingly sultry thriller about fate, luck, greed and guilt is Woody Allen's best since "Mighty Aphrodite." Plus, it boasts a vintage-Allen metaphor of a bobbling tennis ball that, in a great gotcha scene, becomes a damning motif.

September 19, 2010 Full Review Source: Suite101.com | Comment
Suite101.com

There's no ground here that Allen hasn't gone over before, but as a treatment of upper crust mores and, eventually, as a thriller, it's compulsively watchable and generally well acted.

August 19, 2010 Full Review Source: Cinema Writer | Comment
Cinema Writer

Allen merely regurgitates his shrunken vision in veddy-British padding

August 30, 2009 Full Review Source: CinePassion | Comment
CinePassion

Woody Allen movie involves adultery and murder. Adults only.

July 16, 2008 Full Review Source: Common Sense Media | Comment
Common Sense Media

Just when you were about to give up on Woody Allen, he reinvents himself with a taut tour de force of a film that is unquestionably the best thing he's done in decades.

February 28, 2008 Full Review Source: BrandonFibbs.com | Comment
BrandonFibbs.com

... retools the resolution of Crimes and Misdemeanors so its hero, instead of losing his grasp on morality, never even had a hold on morality in the first place.

September 12, 2007 Comment
Looking Closer

Proves to be an intriguing enough adventure, provided you haven't seen Crimes and Misdemeanors and don't mind rooting for a despicable, amoral philanderer.

May 25, 2007 Full Review Source: Upstage Magazine | Comment
Upstage Magazine

Match Point proves that Allen, at 70 years old, is very much still in the game.

March 1, 2007 Full Review Source: Film Journal International | Comment
Film Journal International

Extremely disappointing.

January 20, 2007 Full Review Source: Observer [UK] | Comments (4)
Observer [UK]

The acting is as impeccable as Remi Adefarasin's lensing is gorgeous.

January 19, 2007 Full Review Source: Compuserve | Comment
Compuserve

This is Allen at his best. And with three Oscars at home already, and seventeen other nominations, that is saying a lot.

December 13, 2006 Full Review Source: Nolan's Pop Culture Review | Comment

His most absorbing picture in years.

November 11, 2006 Full Review Source: Nation | Comment

What makes Match Point, a coolly deliberate murder mystery from Woody Allen, so startling is that it feels as if the director himself has been done away with.

November 4, 2006 Full Review Source: CBC.ca Arts | Comment

A filmmaker out of touch with his own neuroses, making a final bid for recognition by exacerbating lives beyond his reach.

October 30, 2006 Full Review Source: Stylus Magazine | Comment

The plotting lacks a necessary sense of tragic propulsion; it feels dutifully schematic, its ironies polite and tidy when they should be bitter and merciless.

September 28, 2006 Full Review Source: Sight and Sound | Comments (3)
Sight and Sound
More Critic Reviews

Audience Reviews for Match Point

If I'm not mistaken, I do believe this this is my first time seeing one of Woody Allen's purely dramatic films. And I must say, I'm not disappointed. My viewing experienced was a bit tarnished by a few unfortunate interruptions, so perhas I should rewatch it, but nonetheless, I found this to be a really engrossing

June 9, 2006
cosmo313
Chris Weber

Super Reviewer

Exceptional story from Woody Allen. One of my all time favourite films. Johnathon Rhys Meyers and Scarlett Johanson are on fire. A must see!

June 23, 2011
murphmann93
Bethany Murphy

Super Reviewer

    1. Chris Wilton: The man who said "I'd rather be lucky than good" saw deeply into life. People are afraid to face how great a part of life is dependent on luck. It's scary to think so much is out of one's control. There are moments in a match when the ball hits the top of the net, and for a split second, it can either go forward or fall back. With a little luck, it goes forward, and you win. Or maybe it doesn't, and you lose.
    – Submitted by Chris P (9 months ago)
    1. Nola Rice: He saw me across the room and he honed in on me like a guided missile.
    – Submitted by Chris P (9 months ago)

Latest News for Match Point

August 14, 2008:
Woody Allen Looks Back With EW
As he prepares to launch his latest feature, Vicky Cristina Barcelona, Woody Allen has taken a few...

July 27, 2006:
Box Office Preview: Miami Vice Turns Up B.O. Heat
With cops, drug dealers, and lots of bullets flying, the action film Miami Vice hits theaters across...

What's Hot On RT

RT on DVD & Blu-Ray
RT on DVD & Blu-Ray

Twilight: Breaking Dawn Part 1

<em>Amazing Spider-Man</em>
Amazing Spider-Man

See the all-new action-packed trailer!

The Avengers!
The Avengers!

Five new Marvelous pictures

Total Recall
Total Recall

Unconventional Superheroes

Top Movie Quizzes

LEGO Mania: 2011 Best Picture Nominees
by natalie - 18,505 taken
created 12 months ago
How Much Do You Know About Leonardo DiCaprio?
by natalie - 44,278 taken
created 15 months ago
Pixar Movies!
by jdikwlzviv - 27,060 taken
created 15 months ago
The Wizards of Harry Potter
by jdikwlzviv - 27,564 taken
created 15 months ago
Help | About | Jobs | Newsletter | Critics Submission | API | Licensing | Blog | Developers | Mobile