"Match Point"

[EchoWars]

Picked this one on a whim...mainly because of Ms. Johansson, but also because I knew that Woody Allen wrote and directed it (say what you will, the man knows film).

Poor boy (Chris Wilson) takes job as tennis instructor, meets rich boy (Tom Hewitt), gets introduced to rich boy's rich sister (Chloe), who immediately sees stars and a potential hubby. But...poor boy THEN meets rich boy's fiancee, struggling American actress Nola Rice (Scarlett Johansson) and realizes rich girl is chopped liver, and the fiancee is serious fillet mignon.

Perhaps true from a lustful standpoint, but rich girl's father (who is very very rich and likes a happy daughter) gives our poor tennis instructor a dream job and mega-perks in one of his companies. Does poor boy stay poor so he can have his filet mignon in bed, giving up the possibility of a very cushy life? Or does he think with the larger of the two heads, and settle down to a life with rich girl who he feels in his heart (if he has one) is sloppy seconds? (At one point in the film, well after our poor boy is deeply involved with rich girl, Nola asks, "What about you and Chloe?". Chris answers, "She's sweet". Asshole.

There are no heroes in this film, and to tell the truth, regardless of any choice poor boy (who isn't so poor anymore) makes, he's a weasel. Either for leading on rich girl (Chloe, to whom he marries) so that he can secure the lifestyle he's sure the world owes him, or for leaving her for the admittedly lustful Nola, with whom he knows there's essentially no prosperous future, as he's pretty bloody certain to lose his fat paycheck in daddy's company. Nola herself is portrayed somewhat the American golddigger who lost out on her chance on wealth with rich boy, but also as a standoffish target for our anti-hero, who only breaks through her indifference with a considerable effort. Once that is accomplished, he's toast. In for a penny, in for a pound. Nola, for her part, knows their involvement will be a train wreck, but she doesn't care who gets hurt as long as she can find someone to take care of her, and seems to assume that he can provide 'the good life' whether or not he's married to daddy's little princess. These characters are selfish and self-absorbed, and part of the fun of watching them is waiting for karma to have its way with them.

At the beginning of the film, there's a part where - using tennis as an analogy, our anti-hero Chris speaks of fate, such as those times that a tennis ball strikes the net just right, and for a moment the possibility exists that it could fall in either direction: One way the match is won, the other way and the match is lost. A matter of luck to a large degree, and at one point in the film our anti-hero states that he'd 'rather be lucky than good'. Me too.

The twists and turns that the film takes in the second half make for a great ride for the viewer, and I doubt that you will guess which side of the net the ball falls on...I didn't.

(two thumbs up)