Match Point
Woody Allen leaves his beloved New York and takes his latest film to London as Europe is the only place his films don't lose money and perhaps the only place he can secure financing. That's probably due in no small part to the fact that the last decent film he made was Small Time Crooks in 2000. But perhaps the change of scenery did Allen some good, sharpening his senses and returning his work to form with Match Point. The movie has heavy shades of Allen's Crimes of Misdemeanors (1989), essentially stretching out the Martin Landau storyline into a full film. But where Crimes and Misdemeanors addressed the karmic retribution (or lack thereof) for moral sins, Match Point examines the lengths to which people will overlook the laws of man and God rather than have their lives of wealth and privilege upset. Scarlett Johansson is ravishing as the mistress and makes the moral quandary faced by Meyers' tennis pro an extra difficult one. In typical Allen fashion, Match Point is a well-acted, well-written film with a great cast.