Match Point

For the first time in his long career, writer-director Woody Allen takes his cast and crew to London, and the European location breathes new life into the normally Manhattan-centric auteur. Jonathan Rhys Meyers stars as Chris Wilton, a former pro on the world tennis circuit who now has his eyes set on a very different kind of prize. After meeting Tom Hewett (Matthew Goode) at an exclusive club, he becomes friendly with Tom's extremely wealthy family, including his powerful businessman father, Alec (Brian Cox) and his attractive sister, Chloe (Emily Mortimer), who is desperate to get married and have children. The only problem is that Chris has fallen hard and fast for Tom's fiancTe, the steaming-hot Nola (Scarlett Johansson), an unsuccessful American actress from Colorado who just might share Chris's lustful feelings--a romantic entanglement that could get in the way of his master plan. As he does with his New York-set films, Allen includes many London landmarks, including the Tate Modern, the Royal Opera House, the Queen's Club, St. James Park, the Millennium Bridge, the Palace Theatre, and the so-called Gherkin building, with its marvelous views of the city. He gets splendid performances from his actors, especially Rhys Meyers, who plays Chris with an intense glower, and Johansson, who is brilliant as the sexy, confident femme fatale. Allen is also inspired by Alfred Hitchcock, with several references and homages to the work of the great British director. The soundtrack features songs from LA TRAVIATA, RIGOLETTO, OTELLO, MACBETH, SALVATOR ROSA, IL TROVATORE, and other operas, primarily sung by Enrico Caruso.

3.5 stars out of 5 -- "[Allen] writes and directs with a bristling newfound energy....It's been a long time since a Woody Allen film sparked juicy debate. Savor it." - Rolling Stone

"[A]n often riveting drama set in London amid the lives of the rich and cultured -- highlighted by an operatic score. And it's proof that Allen, who many have dismissed with his last few forgettable films, is still a filmmaking force." - USA Today

"It pretty much keeps its pulse steady, its blood cold and its nerves tamped down -- which, combined with cinematographer Remi Adefarasin's architectural Hitchcockian flourishes, lends a queasy, cool air to the proceedings." - Los Angeles Times

"[Johansson] is the film's most compelling, vivid presence. Like Samantha Morton in SWEET AND LOWDOWN, she makes all of her scenes her own." - Sight and Sound

Included in Entertainment Weekly's Top Ten Films Of The Year -- "MATCH POINT is a fiendishly clever and sophisticated entertainment driven by lust, murder, and the swinging hinge of fate." - Entertainment Weekly

"Woody Allen's best in years....Ice cold and pitch black..." - New York Times

"MATCH POINT, a meditation on crime and luck, has the design -- the formal elegance -- of a thriller, yet it has been made with a sublime eye for why people do what they do that marks it as Allen's finest movie since MANHATTAN." -- Grade: A - Entertainment Weekly

"It's heart-poundingly tense, genuinely erotic and philosophically brutal in its closing pronouncement..." - Uncut

"[A]n unexpectedly gripping adultery thriller…that boasts last year's most electric sparks between costars..." - Movieline's Hollywood Life

3 stars out of 5 -- "[T]here's a refreshing vigour and willingness to experiment here we haven't seen since HUSBANDS AND WIVES." - Total Film

3.5 stars out of 4 -- "Jonathan Rhys Meyers is sensational....It serves its dish of bitter nihilism with a lovely touch of European elan." - Premiere

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