As I had some opposing viewpoints with friends in email, whom - by the way - I greatly respect, I purposely waited quite a while to post this review after my initial viewing... where I was quite emphatic about how good this film is. I have since seen it twice more and my opinion hasn't changed. If this is not my favorite Woody Allen film, it is definitely in my personal top 5 (I'd include Crimes and Misdemeanors, Mighty Aphrodite, Anne Hall and Love and Death).

Allen is working towards being the most prolific modern director ever to come out of the United States, if he is not already - 42 films to date and holding strong at a healthy 70 years of age. But what separates him from most of his contemporaries is that his films are consistently above grade - almost exclusively ranging from better-than-average to as lofty as masterpiece status. I choose the latter superlative for Match Point not only for its perceptive examination of power struggles in modern relationships, ambition and guilt, as much as I commend his decision to take the chance he did in making it. Don't be fooled - Woody Allen knows how to make popular films folks, but he precariously balances this with desire to make important films. He took a chance with this and hence audiences are quite divided - this alone makes it worthy of examination. The complaints? - Jonathan Rhys Meyers' flat performance - certainly purposeful (reminding one of Bresson) to intentionally elicit focus on the main premise of the film - and thereby heightening emotional impact in the conclusion.

Match Point is sexy, mysterious, suspense-driven, eventful and essentially quite unforgettable. The performances are basically one dimensional - aside from the moral slippage of the protagonist - conveniently reading Crime and Punishment in the beginning of the film. Scarlett Johansson has never looked better (as good as any female has a right to look) and her character generously gives to Rhys Meyers - an extremely important cog in the brilliant evolution of this story. Obvious comparisons are made to Allen's Crimes and Misdemeanors - the sterility of murder and the cold blanket of its cumulative effect. For me this is a favorite film of the past few years and one I should have added to this article had I seen it first. Nothing short of perfection and we should be enormously grateful to have Allen as a working filmmaker. Don't miss out on this masterpiece - out of

Gary W. Tooze

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DVD

Release Information:
Studio: TF1

Edition Details:

• Making of... (12:56 in English and HD!)

• Trailers

Blu-ray Release Date: November 27th, 2008
Custom Tin Blu-ray Case
Chapters: 24

Release Information:
Studio: Medusa Video

Edition Details:

• A Conversation with Woody Allen and cast (17:00)

• Trailer (1:03)

Blu-ray Release Date: November 24th, 2010
Standard Blu-ray Case
Chapters: 24