Match Point (****)

Wealthy Londoners replace neurotic New Yorkers in Woody Allen’s drama-cum-mystery about a social climber (Jonathan Rhys Meyers) lusting after his pal’s fiancé (Scarlett Johansson). Compelling characters and an ingenious ending make it well worth a look.

Perhaps having exhausted all stories about upper-middle-class New Yorkers, Woody Allen has famously headed to London for this and his next movie, Scoop. Jonathan Rhys Meyers (of Bend It Like Beckham) stars in this one as a just-retired tennis pro who’s taken a job as an instructor. In no time he’s insinuated himself into a wealthy family--palled around with the son, paired up with the daughter (Emily Mortimer), and resolutely lusted after the son’s sultry American fiancée (Scarlett Johansson). Notwithstanding the change of setting, Allen’s on familiar thematic territory, chronicling the activities of urban sophisticates. (Their fondness for opera is a bond between the two men.) Witty conversation and intermittent humor give way to suspense. So much depends on luck, says the voiceover, yet for much of the film lust plays a much bigger part.

I’m not going to say more about the plot or Allen’s ingenious resolution of it. Match Point is the second of his films in a row (after Melinda and Melinda) in which Allen hasn’t appeared. Unlike, say, Celebrity or Anything Else, there’s not even a neurotic Allen facsimile on hand. Rhys Meyers plays one of Allen’s more unsavory main characters, while Johansson’s, more complex, is likely to evoke differing amounts of sympathy. This is probably Woody Allen’s best movie since Crimes and Misdemeanors (1986), with which it shares a couple of key plot elements (though with less philosophizing). Although I’ve enjoyed Allen’s recent films (excepting the one-joke Hollywood Ending), they’ve tended toward the ephemeral. This isn’t a perfect film. An interior monologue near the end is hokey. However, it’s entertaining from beginning to end and leaves an impression when it’s over.

IMDb link