Opening

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—— How To Make Money Selling Drugs Jun 26
—— White House Down Jun 28
—— The Heat Jun 28
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Matchstick Men (2003)

tomatometer

82

Average Rating: 7.1/10
Reviews Counted: 182
Fresh: 150 | Rotten: 32

Breezy and well-acted, Matchstick Men focuses more on the characters than on the con.

76

Average Rating: 6.6/10
Critic Reviews: 41
Fresh: 31 | Rotten: 10

Breezy and well-acted, Matchstick Men focuses more on the characters than on the con.

audience

76

liked it
Average Rating: 3.3/5
User Ratings: 149,852

My Rating

Movie Info

Ridley Scott directs the crime comedy Matchstick Men, based on the novel of the same name by Eric Garcia. Neurotic con man Roy (Nicolas Cage) suffers from several emotional problems, including obsessive-compulsive disorder. He and his partner Frank (Sam Rockwell) swindle people out of money by posing as money collectors who promise things like tax refunds, package vacations, and other fabulous prizes (which they never get). Frank wants to pull a really big job, but Roy is too consumed with fear

PG-13,

Drama, Comedy

Nicholas Griffin, Ted Griffin, Eric Garcia

Jun 1, 2004

$36.9M

Warner Bros. Pictures - Official Site External Icon

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All Critics (188) | Top Critics (42) | Fresh (150) | Rotten (32) | DVD (31)

Matchstick Men never really casts off its cloak of artificiality and calculation; its pleasures are minor, however distracting they may be.

July 7, 2008 Full Review Source: Variety
Variety
Top Critic IconTop Critic

Ridley Scott lets us enjoy the satisfying clicks and whirrs of the well-oiled celluloid con trick, while leaving plenty of head room for Cage to twitch and fret in.

June 24, 2006 Full Review Source: Time Out
Time Out
Top Critic IconTop Critic

A thoroughly absorbing hour and 56 minutes of entertainment.

September 26, 2003 Full Review Source: New York Observer
New York Observer
Top Critic IconTop Critic

Matchstick Men is really two movies brilliantly spliced into one, each enriching the other.

September 16, 2003 Full Review Source: ReelViews
ReelViews
Top Critic IconTop Critic

It's a blah little exploitation picture that thinks it's a deep humanist parable.

September 15, 2003 Full Review Source: Slate | Comments (2)
Slate
Top Critic IconTop Critic

Matchstick Men isn't even remotely intricate; it's not even particularly interesting.

September 13, 2003 Full Review Source: Salon.com
Salon.com
Top Critic IconTop Critic

This is a movie about con games at every level.

December 26, 2010 Full Review Source: Common Sense Media
Common Sense Media

Nicholas Cage gives his best performance since "Leaving Los Vegas" as con man Roy Waller in this sophisticated movie about familial responsibility, self-imposed barriers and the possibilities of a well executed long con.

June 12, 2009 Full Review Source: ColeSmithey.com
ColeSmithey.com

A cleverly planned switcheroo story in which the twist at the end is the knife in the back.

October 18, 2008 Full Review Source: Urban Cinefile | Comments (2)
Urban Cinefile

Scott tucks away his visual athletics in favour of something leisurely and quietly devastating. It's ultimately far more cunning a script than we can reveal here.

December 30, 2006 Full Review Source: Empire Magazine
Empire Magazine

Something less than the sum of its parts, Matchstick Men is a decent film that should have been a considerably better one.

December 6, 2005 Full Review Source: Film Threat
Film Threat

Matchstick Men works because of the way the key players handle the material. This is the work of professionals acknowledging a good story and knowing better than to get in the way.

December 6, 2005 Full Review Source: Film Threat
Film Threat

A lot more fun than most of the director's pompously inflated output.

May 4, 2005 Full Review Source: Lessons of Darkness
Lessons of Darkness

What saves Matchstick Men from being a complete washout are the performances by Cage, Sam Rockwell and Alison Lohman.

March 5, 2005 Full Review Source: NYC Film Critic | Comments (2)
NYC Film Critic

Mathstick Men se compare aisément à Catch Me If You Can sans atteindre la qualité de Ocean's Eleven.

February 25, 2005

Despite its string of crime-caper clichés, [director Ridley] Scott's focus on character and relationship helps the film transcend the typical mediocrity of its genre.

December 6, 2004
Looking Closer

Cage is absolutely terrific down to his eye twitches and neck jerks.

October 14, 2004 Full Review

Director Ridley Scott, whose recent history has brought us wonderful action films like Black Hawk Down and Gladiator, translates Eric Garcia's book about a neurotic con man into a compelling film.

October 7, 2004 Full Review Source: tonymedley.com

... tenuous and beautiful interaction between Cage and Lohman.

September 20, 2004
Tyler Morning Telegraph (Texas)

...the sort of light, breezy entertainment that feels a lot more like George Roy Hill or Peter Bogdanovich than it does Ridley Scott.

March 14, 2004 Full Review Source: Movie Metropolis
Movie Metropolis

The characters are so good that you'll forget about the con game.

March 1, 2004

The story darts in unexpected, dark directions, but is told by such talented people, we follow it willingly...

February 28, 2004 Full Review

The revelation here... is Alison Lohman... [Y]ou will be amazed by the depths of this talented young woman.

January 1, 2004 Full Review

Delivers some double-crosses worthy of the best con flicks, with twists that are both punchy and poetic.

December 1, 2003
Vue Weekly (Edmonton, Canada)

Audience Reviews for Matchstick Men

Matchstick Men is biggest nadir in Ridley Scott's filmography so far and unbearable experience to sit through. With hyper active editing and camerawork this looks more like Tony Scott film on acid.
Things here are not helped by awful performance by Nicolas Cage whose acting here is annoying as hell.
Ridley Scott has never been that good with comedy and this is a good example of that. I just could not figure out that was this film supposed to be comedy, drama, thriller or somekind of a heist film. Whatever it's intentions are it fails miserably.
It is also alarming how visually bankrupt this film is. Even at his weakest director Scott has often managed to bring visual flavour to his films, but this has none of that. It looks like a film made by some random MTV-commercial director.
Honestly i cannot find anything good to say about this film. It truly is film where everything seem to went completely wrong for director Scott.
February 27, 2012
emilkakko

Super Reviewer

A complex, very involving drama, "Matchstick Men" displays fantastic lead performances from its main cast comprised of Nicolas Cage, Sam Rockwell and Alison Lohman, but also heightens director Ridley Scott to a whole new form of filmmaking where he shows that he can tell a story more through genuine character development than the actual job the film centers on.
February 19, 2012
Tyler Christian

Super Reviewer

    1. Roy Waller: To some people, money is a foreign film without subtitles.
    – Submitted by Jacob M (2 months ago)
    1. Roy Waller: Hey have you ever been dragged to the sidewalk and beaten till you PISSED... BLOOD!
    – Submitted by Rocky F (15 months ago)

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