Matchstick Men

It’s true that the screenplay for Matchstick Men is not particularly glorious. If it had fallen into the hands of even a mediocre director, it probably would have turned out a lot worse. But Ridley Scott is a more than above-average director :)) and so he squeezed what he could. The result is a film that pretends to be a light-hearted crime comedy until the last moment (and this position suits it very well), only to dick you around at the end, to put it vulgarly. :) It's just a pity Sam Rockwell didn't get more space. 75% (29.01.2010)

Scott continues to surprise me more and more. While his highly regarded classics don't really resonate with me, his excursions into seemingly foreign genres fit me perfectly. This applies even more to "Švindlíři" (The Swindlers), considering that I usually don't like the genre of deceitful comedies. Scott, however, turned many clichés about final actions and unexpected family connections upside down and surprisingly placed them in the role of a total neurotic played by Nicolas Cage, who surprises perhaps all of his opponents. I was on edge during the airport action scene and I wholeheartedly rooted for the main characters. I liked almost everything - except for the final twist, which could greatly damage the experience upon rewatching. (09.05.2007)

Cage - excellent, Sam Rockwell - excellent, Alison Lohman - excellent. I was rather surprised to fins a movie from Ridley Scott (!) with Cage (!) that I didn’t know even existed. And it was a pleasant surprise. The type of cool movie that occasionally makes you laugh, but otherwise it’s pretty full-on. + unexpected ending. (15.12.2009)

I found Nicolas Cage absolutely captivating here, which is very often the case for me. He managed to carry the whole film through to the end, and he did so in pretty much every moment. I can't help but enjoy his acting. What didn't entertain me much was the screenplay, which could be interesting mainly because of its ending, where the cards are somewhat predictably revealed. (16.10.2015)

An unfunny comedy, a psychological family drama that doesn’t engage the viewer, and a slight hint of a thriller. Nicolas Cage is excellent, but the film itself is just a boring genre hybrid. I found the ending to be not so much overwrought and complicated as unbelievable. It does help to make sense of what happened before, but it doesn’t inspire enthusiasm. One of Ridley Scott’s weaker efforts. (27.08.2003)