Matchstick Men (2003)

Starring: Nicolas Cage, Sam Rockwell, and Alison Lohman
Grade: A-

Matchstick Men is a very good movie and is deserving of its “A-” grade. Nicolas Cage’s performance however is an “A+“.

Summary

In Los Angeles, Roy Waller (Cage) is a very successful con artist with severe Tourette’s syndrome and OCD (obsessive-compulsive disorder). His partner and protégé Frank Mercer (Rockwell) helps him in his trade. Together, they run this fake lottery scam where they call old people and tell them they won a prize and that to not pay a tax on the prize, all they have to do is buy a water filtration system that “only” costs $398, even though it legitimately costs like $50. They send a courier to pick up the money from the house they call, and that’s the first step. Right away, we see them in action.

As Frank convinces their most recent victim of their scam over the phone, Roy shows up at the last second to close the deal. Shortly after, Roy and Frank pose as FTC (Federal Trade Commission) agents and go to the old woman’s house to tell her and her husband that they have been scammed by some random people for her $700. Next, they tell her that because a courier picked it up instead of her mailing the check, it’s hard for them to catch the guy. However, if the guy cashes the check out of state, it becomes a federal thing, and they can act. All Roy and Frank would need is a signed clearance from the husband for their bank to run a trace. The husband agrees and signs over everything. As they get the signature and bank account information, Roy starts to spaz out because the sunlight gets into the house once the couple lets the dog out, effecting Roy heavily because of all his issues. Counting their money back at their office, Frank mentions this long con job he’s been wanting to do for a while because it’s huge money, but Roy insists he doesn’t do long cons.

When Roy gets ready for his day the next morning, he accidentally knocks his pills into the garbage disposal. Freaking out, he calls his doctor’s office but finds out that his doctor moved and there’s no way to get ahold of him. After this frustrating phone call and because he notices his stepping all over his own carpet, he gets a panic attack and has to immediately clean his entire house to the point of perfection. This continues through most of the week. Frank continues to call Roy to see if he’s okay, but he doesn’t answer. Eventually, Frank comes to his house and sees the state Roy is in. Though he annoys Roy with his lackadaisical response to Roy wanting him to keep his shoes off of his carpet, not to eat and get everything dirty, etc., he still calls a psychiatrist he knows in Dr. Harris Klein (Bruce Altman) for Roy to meet with. Roy has the meeting with Klein. They discuss Roy’s personal problems and his ex-wife from many years ago Heather (Melora Walters). Roy and Heather haven’t talked in years. They discuss the possibility of her having a child, but it could’ve been with anyone. Even so, he demands new pills and is given them, though they definitely aren’t the same one’s he was taking before. That night, he calls Heather in hopes of leaving a message but immediately hangs up after she answers. The next day, he meets with Dr. Klein again, and he talks about how he wasn’t sober a lot with Heather. Also, she was pregnant two months before she even told him. Sadly, Roy doesn’t know if the kid is a boy or a girl, nor does he know if Heather even had the kid.

After their session is over, he convinces Dr. Klein to call Heather for him to ask if she had the kid or not and though he’s hesitant, Klein accepts.

Later, Klein calls Roy to tell him that though Heather doesn’t want to speak to Roy, his fourteen-year-old daughter Angela (Lohman) does. Anxious and curious, Roy goes to a park to meet up with Angela and after some initial talking, where Roy finds out that Heather told Angela a bunch of lies about him, they go to a restaurant. She can see through Roy’s claim that he “sells antiques” but is surprisingly okay with the criminal activity she assumes he’s a part of. They talk a bit more and Roy drives her home, though he has to park a little farther away, so Heather doesn’t see him. Angela enjoyed her meeting with Roy, so she suggests they hang out again sometime and writes her number on his hand. For the first time in a while, Roy seems happy, and the pills seem to be working.

In fact, he’s so happy that he finally accepts Frank’s offer to go after the long con job on Chuck Frechette (Bruce McGill), a wealthy importer-exporter. After Roy and Frank scope him out as Frank gives out details on the guy, Roy goes and gets some international money from his safety deposit box. That night, he gets into his scamming character by getting dressed and going over how he delivers certain lines. Following his confirmation with Frank on where they are going to meet, Angela suddenly shows up at the front door. On her own volition, she decided to take a bus to come stay with Roy for the time being because her and Heather got into a fight, with her usual response being to leave for a couple of days. This time around, she decided to stay with Roy and didn’t tell him. He’s freaking out at this point, but he doesn’t have time to mess around because the long con with Chuck starts tonight, so he decides to leave her at the house alone. While Roy is gone, Angela gets bored and looks through his entire house and messes up everything.

As we know, this is the last thing you want to do with someone like Roy.

At the strip club, Roy and Frank act as their characters, with Chuck observing them from afar. This way it looks like Roy and Frank are doing some business deal with each other as different people, to sell the idea to Chuck that Roy is some big-time business guy. It goes off without a hitch. Roy goes home to see his house destroyed by Angela. Following a talk with her, with Angela talking about how unfair her mother has been to him, he deals with the mess. The stress does start to get to him though. With this big con looming and potentially bringing in big money, Roy having to contend with trying to hide his career from his long-lost daughter, as she stays at his place for an undisclosed amount of time, does take a toll. Thankfully, they do end up bonding more. As a result, she becomes very interested in conning like her father.

Strangely enough, she’s actually pretty good at it.

My Thoughts:

I’m always ready for Nicolas Cage going all out in a role because he puts his heart and soul into everything he does. In Matchstick Men, the movie’s acting makes it as special as it is, and it’s led by the wonderfully peculiar character of Roy Waller because of Cage’s masterful performance. Having Tourette’s and OCD is hard enough, but to be a recovering alcoholic, a smoker and a con “artist”, as Roy calls himself since “con man” has a more negative connotation to it, quadruples the pressure Cage was facing. Yet, he nails every bit of it. I can’t imagine how much preparation it took to figure out Roy and make sure every detail of his performance was as impeccable as it was. This is why Nicolas Cage is a walking icon.

Now, you have to be skillful at what you do to get past all of these personal distractions. Somehow, this is what Roy has been able to do, though it’s admittedly difficult. Actually, working and trying to live with these personal issues are the two only things he’s done in years. He even admits to his doctor that he hasn’t had a relationship since his marriage broke up over ten years ago. Roy is all about conning, and he takes it very seriously to get everything right, meticulously planning every inch of each job. After all, half of the game is preparation. Considering all of the other problems he has on a consistent basis, we are led to believe that this is all Roy does. He’s isolated at all times and is very closed off because of his problems. At one point, he tells Angela he doesn’t know how to be a father because “I barely get by being me”. This is such an honest line. Not only is it relatable to the viewer, but we understand Roy’s plight. It’s a job in and of itself trying to live life as the unique Roy Waller. Right from the opening of the film, we see the daily routine and quirks Roy has to deal with to get through the day and be on the top of his game. He has to count out loud as he opens his door three times, he has this obsession with making sure his carpet is clean (as well as everything else in his house), and he is very particular in the things he owns and how he organizes everything. He also has a lot of physical tics, and he hates the outdoors.

Have you ever heard of a character that straight-up tells people they hate the outdoors? I feel like this is the first time I’ve ever heard this.

Anyway, when we see how Roy operates in the first act, we understand how important his quirks are to him as a person and how he freaks out when the status quo is messed with even slightly. As a result, you get anxious waiting for him to react to literally anything going on. Constantly, I found myself worried about how Roy is going to react when something happens to his house, especially his carpet. It’s not only because of how intense Roy can be, but it’s also because of Nicolas Cage’s reputation onscreen. If you’re a Cage fan like myself, you know how he has a penchant for playing these types of characters that have freak-out moments where he acts as abrasive as possible. It’s his specialty, and he does it again with Roy. He does not miss a beat. It’s obvious a lot of research went into his exquisite portrayal of this struggling man who can be kind, frustrated, anxiety-riddled, anxious, awkward and even loving while battling his own mind. We already know Cage can do it all but in Matchstick Men, he continues to impress, only reaffirming his status as one of acting’s finest. At the very least, Cage’s Roy was Oscar-nomination worthy.

You’re telling me he wasn’t better than Jude Law in Cold Mountain? You’re lying to yourself.

Going along with his all-encompassing performance, Cage is funny as hell too. It’s not in the unintentional way either, which can be the case with some Nic Cage movies. The Cage gets comedy, and I don’t think he gets enough credit for it. All people bring up is the fucking Wicker Man remake, but that’s not fair. When Cage wants to make you laugh, he can do it with ease. He’s so versatile, it’s scary. He deserves recognition. Roy’s reactions to a lot of the scenarios in this movie are legitimately funny, and it helps complete the overall final product of Matchstick Men. He gets all the great lines too. His speech about the carpet had me laughing my ass off. It’s well-written and masterfully performed. This speech by itself tells us exactly who we are dealing with. Essentially, this is the complicated mind of Roy Waller at work and as morbid as it sounds, it’s incredibly entertaining to see him try to get through his day when he’s on the verge of an episode.

Once again, it rings true: “I barely get by being me”.

The additional editing tricks to emphasize the mind and reactions of Roy was an enjoyable artistic choice to set this film apart from others. It exudes anxiousness, bringing out discomfort even in the viewer at times. It’s a great way to pack on to Cage’s performance because the editing and cinematography seem to be built around his neuroses. This way, we can truly feel when it’s panic attack time. Honestly, I couldn’t believe this was a Ridley Scott film. Matchstick Men is a far departure from his usual work. You couldn’t even tell it was directed by him. That’s not a bad thing either. This movie is off-kilter, and Scott tries some off-kilter ideas to compliment the style and tone of the movie. Because of this, it’s a lot more memorable stylistically than it has business being. Cage’s role would’ve already made the film memorable, but the movie as a whole really hits another level because of Scott and his team behind him.

Sam Rockwell always shines in a supporting role and the same rings true here. Him playing a careless, scumbag partner is a role Rockwell can do in his sleep. Alison Lohman, who’s in her mid-twenties in real life here, plays a fourteen-year-old and she wasn’t too far off with it. She definitely looks the part and her troublesome kid act, though it’s a character we’ve seen a lot before, is done well enough to where we can see why Roy latches onto her so quickly. This father thing is new to him, but he loves her and wants it to work. It’s great because she’s more than willing to give him a chance because clearly, she’s a lot more like him than she is her mother. It’s very enjoyable to see Roy’s tics start to fade as their relationship gets better and better, despite his trouble understanding her. It gives Roy, along with us watching, hope. The subplot of the con kept things moving too. Here’s the thing, though this is a con artist movie, and the con is the event we want to see, this monkey wrench of Angela being thrown into the mix adds a lot to the layers of the story and its characters. Those looking for a big con like The Sting will be disappointed because this film is all character-driven. The conning is secondary when you consider the bigger picture. Even so, it makes everything much more interesting, as well as dangerous in a way. You don’t even care about the details of the con. You just want to get back to Roy doing things and interacting with everyone because that’s where the money is at. Usually in a movie like this, I would critique everything about how they’re getting the money, but it didn’t matter. I just loved the characters and wanted to see how things would unfold.

With that being said, I was not a fan of the ending. I felt so defeated. Many watching will feel the same. In some cases, it may sour you on the movie as a whole. It didn’t for me, but I can’t help but admit that this ending brought its grade down a lot after such a great buildup. Sure, it was acceptable because of the characters and what you would expect out of everyone, being that it’s the nature of the “business” they’re in, but it was very frustrating to see. To go through all of this, and for Roy to go through everything he went through, I just felt very disgruntled when the credits started to roll. It wasn’t outrageous or anything, I just had more of a reaction of, “Really? What…..WHAT? Okay, that’s annoying.”.

Matchstick Men is worth watching purely to see Nicolas Cage absolutely crush the lead role and make it one of his best performances ever in a career full of them. The movie as a whole is also very interesting and though its background is about the art of conning, it’s more of a character-focused story that is very entertaining, heartfelt, intense, chaotic, and funny. Though the ending is a bit maddening, I think you’ll love to see Cage and his antics on full display here. It never gets tired, a testament to his always superb acting ability.