Match Point
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Allen’s Return is Rotten to the Core
Sometimes it’s hard to be a movie reviewer. Sure, you get to watch movies and be paid for it, but what do you do when you admire a film for it’s craft, but despise it’s message? Do you give credit to a filmmaker who makes you feel awful with no apparent payoff? Is that feeling the “payoff” in itself, since that’s what the director wanted you to feel in the first place? Woody Allen’s Match Point falls deep into this category--a movie I can easily respect, but find hard to like.
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What we have here is an interesting drama polluted with a despicable protagonist. Chris is one of the most unsympathetic, selfish, “wolf in sheep’s clothing” characters I’ve seen in quite awhile. He cares about no one but himself, and will tread on anyone (in the most subversive fashion) to get what he wants. There appears to be no level he won’t stoop to, and to the horror of the viewer--he does.
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My main problem with this material is that if you are going to give me a movie with no moral center, then you had better give me a protagonist with one (or vice versa). Otherwise, you simply have an exercise in futility that I’d rather not be a part of. Call me a prude if you wish, but if you are going to drag me through the muck, then please let me come away with something other than the need for a shower.
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