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After just seeing this, I think the critics must have seen a different film than me (and I say this as Allen fan)

Posted by Thornhill (A) on January 9, 2006 at 19:39:45

In Reply to: Woody Allen's Match Point anyone? posted by Road Warrior on January 7, 2006 at 16:02:55:

Where to start with the latest Woody Allen crap fest? After a string of simply horrible films, Allen has been reduced to recycling himself -- "Crimes and Misdemeanors" -- in an attempt to salvage what's left of his career. But when reworking this previous masterpiece, Allen failed to actually realize what made it so brilliant. The most obvious problem is that in "Match Point," the murder comes at the very end, leaving the audience to sit through 100 minutes of exposition. As a result of the murder happening in the middle of "Crimes," Judah goes through a wide range of emotions, trying to justify the murder, dealing with his guilt, and reassessing his agnostic views. You get none of that in "Match Point," just the contrived dream sequence in the kitchen, where suddenly everyone is a philosopher, which didn't even fit into the film's aesthetic (but it worked quite well in "Crimes's" Bergmanesque atmosphere). Next, the whole affair in "Match Point" was too Fatal Attractionesque, i.e. a cautionary tale about lust. The woman you have an affair with could be a wacko; you need to be especially careful about keeping it in your pants when if it wasn't for your rich father-in-law, you'd still be a tennis pro. "Crimes" is not cautionary, but more tragic. There were warning signs that Dolores would be clingy, specifically her depression, but Judah is unable to see this since he's so impressed with himself that a younger woman is interested in him. Also significant is that Judah acts as a surrogate father to Dolores. She is a much more complicated character than Nola; having Nola become pregnant is a weak crutch for explaining her erratic emotional state. Finally, in "Crimes," the justifiability of killing your lunatic mistress is more ambiguous because Judah is trying to preserve his social standing in his peer group and legacy, while in "Match Point," it's the choice between a meaningful life and being forever doomed as a tennis pro. Allen seems to realize this weakness, so tries to make things more ambiguous by having the neighbor be a victim of "collateral damage" (much like making Nola pregnant).

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