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MOVIES / ON DVD / MATCHSTICK MEN
Matchstick Men

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Matchstick Men (2003)

82%
75%
86%
N/A
N/A
N/A
82 %
Reviews Counted: 172 Fresh: 141  Rotten:31 Average Rating: 7/10
 
Consensus: Breezy and well-acted, Matchstick Men focuses more on the characters than on the con. Breezy and well-acted, Matchstick Men focuses more on the characters than on the con. more
 
Rated: PG-13
Runtime: 1 hr 56 mins
Theatrical Release: Sep 12, 2003 Wide
Box Office: $36,873,198
Synopsis:
Meet Roy (NICOLAS CAGE) and Frank (SAM ROCKWELL), a couple of pros at the small-time con. As in con artists. Grifters. Matchstick Men. Take your pick. What Roy, a veteran of the grift, and Frank, his ambitious protégé, are swindling - er, make that selling - these days are "water filtration... [More]
Meet Roy (NICOLAS CAGE) and Frank (SAM ROCKWELL), a couple of pros at the small-time con. As in con artists. Grifters. Matchstick Men. Take your pick. What Roy, a veteran of the grift, and Frank, his ambitious protégé, are swindling - er, make that selling - these days are "water filtration systems," bargain-basement water filters bought by unsuspecting people who pay ten times their value in order to win bogus prizes like cars, jewelry and overseas vacations…which they never collect. These scams net the flim-flam men a few hundred here, another thousand there, which eventually adds up to a lucrative partnership. Roy's private life, however, is not so successful. An obsessive-compulsive agoraphobe (and chain-smoker) with no personal relationships to call his own, Roy is barely hanging on to his wits, and when his idiosyncrasies begin to threaten his criminal productivity he's forced to seek the help of a psychoanalyst (BRUCE ALTMAN) just to keep him in working order. While Roy is looking for a quick fix (i.e. pills), his therapy begets more than he bargained for: the revelation that he has a teenage daughter - a child whose existence he suspected but never dared confirm. What's more troubling, 14-year-old Angela (ALISON LOHMAN) wants to meet the father she never knew. At first, Angela's appearance disrupts her neurotic father's carefully ordered routine. Soon, however, with his own unique spin on parenthood, Roy begins to enjoy a relationship he never dreamed of having with his daughter. But while he develops paternal feelings for the 14-year-old, she's developing a fascination with Daddy's questionable career. Finally, at Angela's insistence and against his better judgment, the overprotective con artist begins teaching her some tricks of the trade and, much to his ambivalent mix of surprise, pride and dismay, she displays a remarkable gift for the grift. Now, like a kid with a new toy, Angela wants in on the partnership. But that could seriously jeopardize Roy's peace of mind - not to mention his whole way of life. This film is rated PG-13 by the MPAA for "thematic elements, violence, some sexual content and language." FOR RATINGS REASONS, GO TO FILMRATINGS.COM, PARENTALGUIDE.ORG AND MPAA.ORG [Less]

Genre: Dramas

Starring: Nicolas Cage, Sam Rockwell, Alison Lohman, Bruce McGill, Bruce Altman

Director: Ridley Scott
Screenwriter: Nicholas Griffin, Ted Griffin
Producer: Jack Rapke, Steve Starkey, Sean Bailey, Ted Griffin
Composer: Hans Zimmer

DVD Info

Release:

Feb 24, 2004

[DVD Details]

DVD Features:

  • Region 1
  • Snap Case
  • Widescreen - 2.40

Audio:

  • Dolby Digital 5.1 - English
  • Dolby Digital 5.1 - French

Additional Release Material:

  • Audio Commentary - 1. Ridley Scott - Director/Producer, Nicholas Griffin - Writer, Ted Griffin - Writer/Producer
  • Theatrical Trailer

Buy It On DVD

Reviews

 
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Full Review | Comment
12/30/06 07:28 AM
Empire Magazine
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Full Review | Comment
06/24/06 04:16 AM
Derek Adams
Time Out
Ratings Image

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.

Full Review | Comment
12/06/05 08:07 PM
Brad Slager
Film Threat
Ratings Image

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

Full Review | Comment
12/06/05 08:07 PM
Rick Kisonak
Film Threat
Ratings Image

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

Full Review | Comment
05/04/05 11:56 AM
Nick Schager
Lessons of Darkness
Ratings Image

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

Full Review | Comment
03/05/05 10:50 PM
Ethan Alter
NYC Film Critic
Ratings Image

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

Full Review | Comment
02/25/05 09:30 PM
Louis-Jérôme Cloutier
Panorama
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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.

Full Review | Comment
12/06/04 05:11 PM
Jeffrey Overstreet
Looking Closer
Ratings Image

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

Full Review | Comment
10/14/04 08:04 PM
Steve Crum
Kansas City Kansan
Ratings Image

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.

Full Review | Comment
10/07/04 07:30 PM
Tony Medley
tonymedley.com
Ratings Image

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

Full Review | Comment
09/20/04 04:58 PM
Mark Collette
Tyler Morning Telegraph (Texas)
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...the sort of light, breezy entertainment that feels a lot more like George Roy Hill or Peter Bogdanovich than it does Ridley Scott.

Full Review | Comment
03/14/04 09:36 AM
John J. Puccio
DVDTown.com
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The characters are so good that you'll forget about the con game.

Full Review | Comment
03/01/04 07:39 PM
Mark Robison
Reno Gazette-Journal
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The story darts in unexpected, dark directions, but is told by such talented people, we follow it willingly...

Full Review | Comment
02/28/04 10:44 AM
Austin O'Connor
Lowell Sun
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The revelation here... is Alison Lohman... [Y]ou will be amazed by the depths of this talented young woman.

Full Review | Comment
01/01/04 04:42 PM
Daniel M. Kimmel
Worcester Telegram & Gazette
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Delivers some double-crosses worthy of the best con flicks, with twists that are both punchy and poetic.

Full Review | Comment
12/01/03 04:27 PM
Brian Gibson
Vue Weekly (Edmonton, Canada)
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If you didn't see the ending coming a mile away, then I'd like you to send me your bank account number and access codes so that I can deposit a special prize into your account

Full Review | Comment
11/16/03 01:01 PM
Brian Mckay
eFilmCritic.com
Ratings Image

When he's good, Ridley Scott can change filmgoing forever. When he's bad, he's just extremely mediocre. That being the case, Matchstick is then an example of Scott at his worst.

Full Review | Comment
11/16/03 08:09 AM
Garth Franklin
Dark Horizons
Ratings Image

O roteiro dos irmãos Griffin funciona muito bem até os cinco minutos finais – que, apesar de desnecessários e nada convincentes, não conseguem estragar este ótimo filme.

| Comment
11/11/03 05:09 PM
Pablo Villaca
Cinema em Cena
Ratings Image

For this role, Cage combined the hysterical qualities of his earliest roles with seriousness of later ones. It was a masterful performance.

Full Review | Comment
11/02/03 07:40 PM
Dan Marcucci and Nancy Serougi
Broomfield Enterprise
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• Matchstick Men at Rotten Tomatoes
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• Matchstick Men at AskMen
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