Rent Match Point (2005)

Woody winner. - Match Point review by Steve

Woody Allen now picks this as his favourite from all his films. And at over two hours it's also his longest. It was going to be another New York story, but funding from the BBC meant it was rewritten for London (the first of three consecutive films made there). Critics likened it to Theodore Dreiser's 1925 novel, An American Tragedy, which is fair enough.

In terms of Woody's oeuvre, it takes the murder story from Crimes and Misdemeanours and sets it among a rich family of English financiers. Jonathan Rhys Meyers plays a former tennis pro from a working class background who marries into their money and finds his hard won acre of paradise threatened by his pregnant mistress (Scarlett Johannson).

 The move to the UK works well for a story about class and the familiar British cast do a great job of adapting Woody's dialogue into a different voice. The locations are well chosen and there is a strong visual impression of this country as well as its class privileges. Johannson and Meyers make a beautiful combination, though her screen charisma eclipses his.

Reflection on the indifference of fate is an over familiar Allen theme, but this is a stylistic departure, which wrong-footed critics who had tagged him as merely recycling old devises. The police investigation into Scarlett's murder is uninspired and the lack of suspense is a problem. It was a hit, though some of that box office is probably down to its star.

Should have watched longer - Match Point review by JD

I watched the first 30 minutes and could stand it no more. A tennis coach is spoilt by an over-privileged family and marries their daughter but covets his brother-in-law's girlfriend. Great stuff if you liked Dallas or Howard's End but this upper-class romantic betrayal stuff is not my thing and I ejected before it got to the crime intrigue. My advice would be to get it either if you like Bronte or skip the first 40 minutes.