Synopsis
Frank Allen (Ryan Reynolds), an efficiency expert, misses his ferry, setting off a chain of events that leads to estrangement from his wife Susan (Emily Mortimer) and daughter, as he descends into a nervous breakdown.
Match Point is the Woody Allen film I’ve waited years for. Not his best since Annie Hall, but since Crimes and Misdemeanors his films were largely screwball romantic comedies and crime capers (Mighty Aphrodite, Curse of the Jade Scorpion, Manhattan Murder Mystery) that while decent on their own, are ultimately replaceable and muddled with one another, peopled by interchangeable characters, situations, and dialogue. Allen’s career has been a long struggle between comedy and tragedy — he’s fascinated by both many of his films alternate between the two (Hannah and Her Sisters, Crimes and Misdemeanors, Melinda and Melinda), almost self-consciously afraid that a too-somber film will scare people away, and a too-funny one will bring the wrong people back for more. So with Match Point, it’s refreshing to see Allen do away with much of the comedic meandering and give drama to us straight.
Maybe we’ve hit a point where romantic comedies have matched up just about every possible odd couple so that the darker corners of the Internet are now fair game — and it certainly helps for the setting to be small-town, middle America with bread as white as the perpetually falling snow.