''Matchstick Men'' is a 2003
black comedy film
A comedy film is a category of film which emphasizes humor. These films are designed to make the audience laugh through amusement. Films in this style traditionally have a happy ending (black comedy being an exception). Comedy is one of the olde ...
directed by
Ridley Scott
Sir Ridley Scott (born 30 November 1937) is a British film director and producer. Directing, among others, science fiction films, his work is known for its atmospheric and highly concentrated visual style. Scott has received many accolades thr ...
and based on
Eric Garcia Eric Garcia may refer to:
* Eric Garcia (writer) (born 1972), American writer
* Eric García (footballer, born 1993), Spanish football midfielder
* Eric Garcia (basketball) (born 1994), American basketball player
*Eric García (footballer, born 2001 ...
's 2002 novel of the same name. The film stars
Nicolas Cage
Nicolas Kim Coppola (born January 7, 1964), known professionally as Nicolas Cage, is an American actor and film producer. Born into the Coppola family, he is the recipient of various accolades, including an Academy Award, a Screen Actors Gu ...
,
Sam Rockwell
Sam Rockwell (born November 5, 1968) is an American actor. He is known for appearing in independent films and also as a character actor portraying a wide variety of roles both comedic and dramatic in films such as '' Lawn Dogs'' (199 ...
, and
Alison Lohman
Alison Marion Lohman (born September 18, 1979) is an American former actress. Born in Palm Springs, California, she began her career with small roles in short and independent films. Lohman headlined the drama film '' White Oleander'' (2002), wh ...
. The film premiered on September 2, 2003 at the
60th Venice International Film Festival
The 60th annual Venice International Film Festival was held from 27 August to 6 September 2003. The festival opened with Woody Allen's Out of Competition film ''Anything Else''.
Juries
The following people comprised the 2003 jury for the featur ...
and was released in the United States on September 12, 2003. It received generally positive reviews and grossed $65 million against its $62 million budget.
Plot
Roy Waller is a
con artist
A confidence trick is an attempt to defraud a person or group after first gaining their trust. Confidence tricks exploit victims using their credulity, naïveté, compassion, vanity, confidence, irresponsibility, and greed. Researchers have def ...
with severe
tourette's syndrome
Tourette syndrome or Tourette's syndrome (abbreviated as TS or Tourette's) is a common neurodevelopmental disorder that begins in childhood or adolescence. It is characterized by multiple movement (motor) tics and at least one vocal (phonic) ...
and
obsessive-compulsive disorder from
Los Angeles
Los Angeles ( ; es, Los Ángeles, link=no , ), often referred to by its initials L.A., is the largest city in the state of California and the second most populous city in the United States after New York City, as well as one of the world' ...
. Alongside his partner and protégé Frank Mercer, Roy operates a fake lottery, selling overpriced water filtration systems to unsuspecting customers. After Roy experiences a violent
panic attack
Panic attacks are sudden periods of intense fear and discomfort that may include palpitations, sweating, chest pain or chest discomfort, shortness of breath, trembling, dizziness, numbness, confusion, or a feeling of impending doom or of losing ...
, Frank suggests he see a psychiatrist, Dr. Harris Klein.
Klein provides Roy with medication, and in therapy has Roy recall his past relationship with Heather, his ex-wife who was pregnant during the divorce. At Roy's behest, Klein informs Roy he called Heather, finding out Roy has a 14-year-old daughter, Angela. Roy and Angela meet, and her youthful energy rejuvenates him. Roy thus agrees to work with Frank on a long-con: their target is Chuck Frechette, an arrogant businessman whom they plan to con with the
pigeon drop
The pigeon drop (also known as Spanish Handkerchief) is a confidence trick in which a mark, or "pigeon", is persuaded to give up a sum of money in order to secure the rights to a larger sum of money, or more valuable object.
To perform a pigeon ...
.
One night, Angela shows up at Roy's, saying she has had a fight with her mother, deciding to stay for the weekend before returning to school. Exploring his belongings, she causes him to rethink his life, which he mentions during therapy with Klein. Angela returns home late one night, leading to an argument between them. During dinner, Roy admits he is a con artist and reluctantly agrees to teach Angela a con. They go to a local laundromat and con an older woman into believing she has won the lottery, so she shares half of her expected winnings with Angela; however, Roy then forces Angela to return the money.
Roy goes bowling with Angela but is interrupted when Frank reveals that Chuck's flight to the
Caymans
The Cayman Islands () is a self-governing British Overseas Territory—the largest by population in the western Caribbean Sea. The territory comprises the three islands of Grand Cayman, Cayman Brac and Little Cayman, which are located to the s ...
has been updated to that day instead of Friday as planned. With little time, Roy reluctantly lets Angela distract Chuck midway through the con; however, after the con is finished, Chuck realizes what has happened and chases them into a parking garage before they escape. Roy then discovers Angela was arrested a year earlier and asks her to stop calling him.
Without Angela, Roy's myriad phobias resurface, and during another panic attack, he ultimately learns that the medication given to him by Klein is a placebo. He proclaims he needs Angela in his life but that he would have to change his lifestyle, much to Frank's disappointment. Roy and Angela return from dinner one night to find Chuck waiting for them with a gun, alongside a badly beaten Frank. Angela shoots Chuck and Roy sends her off with Frank into hiding until the matter can be sorted out. As Roy prepares to take care of Chuck's body, Chuck suddenly springs to life and knocks Roy unconscious.
Roy awakens in a hospital, where the police inform him that Chuck died from the gunshot and Frank and Angela have disappeared. Klein appears and Roy gives him the password to his large safety deposit box, ordering him to give the money to Angela when she is found. Later, Roy awakens to find the "police" have disappeared, his "hospital room" is actually a freight container on the roof of a parking garage, "Dr. Klein's" office is vacant, and his very substantial cash savings has been taken. He begins to realize Frank pulled a long-con on him. Roy drives over to Heather's (whom he hasn't seen for years) looking for Angela. Roy learns the truth: Heather miscarried their child. There is no "Angela": the young woman he thought was his child was actually Frank's accomplice.
One year later, Roy has become a salesman at a local carpet store, which Angela and her boyfriend one day wander into. Roy confronts her, who is much older than he had thought, but ultimately forgives her, realizing that he is much happier as an honest man. Angela reveals she did not receive her fair share of the cut from Frank, and that it was the only con she ever pulled. Angela says “I’ll see you, Dad” when she and her boyfriend depart. Roy returns home to his new wife Kathy, who is pregnant with his child.
Cast
*
Nicolas Cage
Nicolas Kim Coppola (born January 7, 1964), known professionally as Nicolas Cage, is an American actor and film producer. Born into the Coppola family, he is the recipient of various accolades, including an Academy Award, a Screen Actors Gu ...
as Roy Waller
*
Sam Rockwell
Sam Rockwell (born November 5, 1968) is an American actor. He is known for appearing in independent films and also as a character actor portraying a wide variety of roles both comedic and dramatic in films such as '' Lawn Dogs'' (199 ...
as Frank Mercer
*
Alison Lohman
Alison Marion Lohman (born September 18, 1979) is an American former actress. Born in Palm Springs, California, she began her career with small roles in short and independent films. Lohman headlined the drama film '' White Oleander'' (2002), wh ...
as Angela
*
Bruce Altman
Bruce Altman (born July 3, 1955) is an American film and television actor. He is a graduate of the Yale School of Drama.
Early life
Altman was born in The Bronx, New York. He is of Jewish
Jews ( he, יְהוּדִים, , ) or Jewish ...
as Dr. Harris Klein
*
Bruce McGill
Bruce Travis McGill (born July 11, 1950) is an American actor. He worked with director Michael Mann in the movies '' The Insider'' (1999), ''Ali'' (2001), and ''Collateral'' (2004). McGill's other notable film roles include Daniel Simpson "D-Day" ...
as Chuck Frechette
*
Sheila Kelley as Kathy
*
Beth Grant
Beth Grant (born September 18, 1949) is an American character actress. Between 2012 and 2017, she was a series regular on the television comedy ''The Mindy Project'' in the role of Beverly Janoszewski. She is also known for her role as Gracie L ...
as Laundry Lady
*
Melora Walters
Melora Walters (born October 21, 1959) is an American actress. She is best known for her starring roles as Wanda Henrickson in the television series ''Big Love'' and Kathy Kone in ''PEN15'', and has appeared in several Paul Thomas Anderson films.
...
as Heather, Roy's Former Wife (uncredited)
*
Jenny O'Hara
Patricia Joanne "Jenny" O'Hara (born February 24, 1942) is an American film, television, and stage actress. She is best known for Dixie in ''My Sister Sam'' (1986–1988), Janet Heffernan in ''The King of Queens'' (2001–2007), and Nita in ''B ...
as Mrs. Schaffer
*
Steve Eastin
Steve Eastin (born June 22, 1948) is an American character actor. He has appeared in nearly 150 television and film roles throughout his decades long career.
Early life and education
Eastin was born in Colorado, where he began to study acting a ...
as Mr. Schaffer
*
Fran Kranz
Francis Elliott Kranz (born July 13, 1981) is an American actor and film director. He is known for his portrayal of Topher Brink in the science fiction drama series ''Dollhouse''. He had prominent roles in the films ''The Cabin in the Woods'' an ...
as Slacker Boyfriend
*
Tim Kelleher as Bishop
*
Tim Maculan as Pharmacist #2
*
Giannina Facio
Giannina Facio, Lady Scott (born Giannina Facio Franco; September 10, 1955), is a Costa Rican actress who has appeared in a number of films, especially those of her husband, British film director and producer Sir Ridley Scott. She first worked w ...
as Bank Teller
*
Sonya Eddy
Sonya Eddy (June 17, 1967 – December 19, 2022) was an American actress.
Early life and education
Eddy was born in Concord, California, on June 17, 1967. She majored in theatre and dance at University of California, Davis and received her B.A. ...
as Parking Garage Cashier
*
Jim Zulevic
Jim Zulevic (February 20, 1965 – January 7, 2006) was an American actor, improvisational comedian, television writer, and radio host. He died suddenly, most likely due to a heart attack, at age 40.
Early life
Zulevic, of Scottish and Cro ...
as Bartender
Release
Opening in 2,711 theaters in the United States and Canada, the film's opening weekend gross stood at second place with $13.0 million for a per-theater-average of $4,827; it ultimately lost the number-one position to ''
Once Upon a Time in Mexico
''Once Upon a Time in Mexico'' (also known as ''Desperado 2'') is a 2003 American neo-Western action film written, directed, produced, photographed, scored, and edited by Robert Rodriguez. It is the third and final film in Rodriguez's '' Mexico ...
''. The film eventually grossed $36.9 million domestically, and $65.5 million worldwide.
Reception
Roger Ebert
Roger Joseph Ebert (; June 18, 1942 – April 4, 2013) was an American film critic, film historian, journalist, screenwriter, and author. He was a film critic for the ''Chicago Sun-Times'' from 1967 until his death in 2013. In 1975, Ebert beca ...
rated the film four stars (out of four) and described it as "so absorbing that whenever it cuts away from the plot, there is another, better plot to cut to." He also recommended the film for several Oscar nominations, most notably Nicolas Cage's performance and the film's screenplay.
James Berardinelli
James Berardinelli (born September 25, 1967) is an American film critic and former engineer. His reviews are mainly published on his blog ''ReelViews.'' Approved as a critic by the aggregator Rotten Tomatoes, he has published two collections of r ...
awarded the film three-and-a-half stars (out of four), praising the film for its "sly, biting sense of humor" and "emotionally satisfying" elements. He also praised the film's acting, and ultimately noted that the film was "worth every cent" of the ticket price and was "the first winner of the fall movie season."
Some critics were not impressed. Renee Graham of ''
The Boston Globe
''The Boston Globe'' is an American daily newspaper founded and based in Boston, Massachusetts. The newspaper has won a total of 27 Pulitzer Prizes, and has a total circulation of close to 300,000 print and digital subscribers. ''The Boston Glob ...
'' criticized the film for its sentimentality, writing that "director Ridley Scott goes all gooey in this off-key adaptation of Eric Garcia's cynical novel." Despite praising the performances of Sam Rockwell and Alison Lohman, Graham was not fond of Cage, writing that he is more "irritating than interesting" and that the film follows a similar style.
Similarly, Lou Lumenick of the ''
New York Post
The ''New York Post'' (''NY Post'') is a conservative daily tabloid newspaper published in New York City. The ''Post'' also operates NYPost.com, the celebrity gossip site PageSix.com, and the entertainment site Decider.com.
It was established ...
'' praised the film's acting but noted that the viewer "may end up feeling as suckered as Roy's victims." Lumenick did not enjoy the twist ending, believing that it was a large detractor to the film's value.
References
External links
*
*
*
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{{Ridley Scott
2003 films
2003 black comedy films
2000s crime comedy-drama films
2000s heist films
American black comedy films
American crime comedy-drama films
American heist films
British black comedy films
British crime comedy-drama films
British heist films
Films about con artists
Films based on American novels
Films directed by Ridley Scott
Films scored by Hans Zimmer
Films with screenplays by Ted Griffin
Warner Bros. films
Scott Free Productions films
ImageMovers films
Films about obsessive–compulsive disorder
Lottery fraud in fiction
2003 comedy films
Films about father–daughter relationships
2000s English-language films
2000s American films
2000s British films