Rating: 
Summary: See for Alison Lohman's Excellent Acting
Review: Ridley Scott's "Matchstick Men" is best enjoyed seen NOT as a film about a con game -- the trick the film is trying to show is too incredible for me -- but seen as "father-daughter" drama it becomes more engaging. And Alison Lohman is so good (far better than in "White Oliander) that anyway you forgive some obvious flaws of the film.Nicolas Cage is a con man living in the sunshine-filled San Felnando Valley, where he and with his partner Sam Rockwell do their "jobs" getting easy money from unsuspecting people. One unique thing about our Nick is, he is not only agoraphobia, but also obsessively urged to make everything clean -- he is a kind of a guy who keeps on vacuum-cleaning the carpet for hours. So, he keeps a dog, the dog made of china. Then Allison Lohman, as his 14-year-old daughter newly-found, stumbles in his life, who literally litters snacks, and doesn't care if she lies on the couch with dirty shoes. At first he panicks (why not), but he is then persuaded by her to take her under his wing, and even to make her a protege of his con game. As I said, the film gives us a surprising story, but it is not that story itself that really engage our attention. It is the plausible and tenderly-depicted relations between Nick Cage and Alison Lohman, which develops in spite of (or because of) unusual situations. Nicholas Cage's acting as caring father is very convincing, and so is Alison Lohman's slightly reckless and still lovable girl. Strangely I found his acting labored when Nicholas Cage shows tics on his face. Obviously he is trying to give authenticity without offending the real-life people, but it is painfully clear that he is acting. I do not disagree if you say his acting is good, but still it is artificial, and it shows. The greatest thing you find in "Matchstick Men" is Alison Lohman's delightful acting. And she played a 14-year-old girl when she was in fact 23. This is quite a nice touch of deceiving, too.
Rating: 
Summary: Brad's review
Review: i think that this movie was the best i have ever seen.i wish they would make a Matchstick men 2. i think that they need to have it where Roy gets back at the guys who stole all his money and that would be great. it would also be cool if he and his "daughter" worked together to get the money back.
Rating:
Summary: This con is a gem
Review: YOu should see this film on DVD for 2 reasons, it brilliant direction from a brilliant director Ridley Scott, and Nicolas Cage's outstanding performance as an obsessive compulsive con man. It is a great comedy-drama and it had a suprise twist in the story that you wouldn't expect (well i didn't expect that twist in the story). Recommended for fans of Scott's brilliant work.
Rating:
Summary: Matchstick Men
Review: A con artist (Nicholas Cage) and his partner (Sam Rockwell) are out for the big bucks. The duo, professional con artists set up a huge con involving millions of dollars. But, out of no where Nicholas Cage meets his daughter he's never met before. Now not only does Cage have to worry about pulling a huge, dangerous con but now look out for his daughter. In a suspensful thriller Cage, Rockwell star in an awsome movie. This movie contains action, car chases and NICHOLAS CAGE (which mean this movie = awsome!)
Rating:
Summary: Nicholas Cage at his best
Review: This cross between "The Sting" and "Paper Moon" pits master con artist Roy (Nicholas Cage) against himself. He has the smooth moves, the grasp of the intricate game he must play, the equally smooth partner (Sam Rockwell), but he cannot master his own obsessive-compulsive urges which manifest themselves in agoraphobia, tics, and, at times, full paralysis. When his partner Mark insists that he sees a shrink for his problems, Roy makes halting progress, leading to his discovery of his previously unknown teenage daughter Angela (Alison Lohman.) What happens next is both hilarious and heartbreaking as Cage exposes his character's heart tic by tic during his biggest con scheme yet. I cannot fault a single performance in this film. No one plays comedic pathos the way Cage does, and he is at his absolute best here - even non-fans might be converted. Supporting actress Alison Lohman's performance is bubbly, nuanced, and adorable, making Roy's instant affection for Angela completely believable. The direction, screenplay, and other supporting performances add yet another layer of perfection to the film. This is the kind of movie you can watch several times before you get enough of it.
Rating: 
Summary: Your future TV movie of the week !
Review: Okay and who made it ? Waooo Ridley Scott ? tHAT'S THE GUY WHO MADE alien, NO ? Cool and who is the main actor ? Nicolas Cage ! Terrific !!!! Is he the guy who plaid in LEAVING LAS VEGAS and 8MM ...? oH yEAH bABY ! I will have a great moment...
THE END !
What the hell ! Much talent for so little flick ! It's so predictable.I knew what it will happen as soon as he met his daughter.It's disappointing and Cage is wasting his time and talent.I easily understand why he chose to be involved in ADAPTATION but this time,there is absolutely no reason.There is nothing to keep in mind.It's EMPTY.The twist has been seen in better movies and the end is simply kind of "I KNEW IT" It's not because they waste their time that you also have to.Give up ! And wait that it appears in your TV guide.
Rating:
Summary: "Pygmies!"
Review: "I spent last Tuesday watching fibers in my carpet," explains Roy (Nicolas Cage) in a discussion with this therapist. That's pretty unusual behavior right there.
Then Roy notes that the fixation made him consider blowing his brains out, and only one thing stopped the suicidal thoughts: "I wondered what that would do to my carpet."
Roy has to rattle every door three times before he feels secure enough to open it. When confronted with unexpected obstacles, he lets loose with his favorite exclamation: "Pygmies!" He's a compulsive cleaner, with a closet that looks like an arsenal of ammonia and disinfectants, yet he chain-smokes while he's scrubbing and buffing.
Yes, our boy Roy's seriously messed up, at least for most of the running time of "Matchstick Men," director Ridley Scott's stylishly twisted comic thriller about a con man who might have stepped out of the heyday of the Rat Pack -- Roy's stereo apparently won't tolerate anything except Frank Sinatra, Tony Bennett, Wayne Newton and Herb Alpert and his choices in hats are so very 1965 -- struggling to deal with an uncertain future. In many ways, Roy could be a not-so-distant relative of Jack Nicholson's Melvin Goodall from "As Good as It Gets": Both men are trying to decide between continuing with a way of life that's unfulfilling but comfortable or taking baby steps toward a strange, promising new situation that will require a near-total emotional makeover.
Roy, who barely blinks while fleecing greedy, naïve "marks" with get-rich-quick schemes and bogus contests, is blindsided by the sudden arrival in his life of a 14-year-old daughter he's never met before named Angela (Alison Lohman). Much to Roy's chagrin, Angela's idea of family bonding involves taking a crash-course in Daddy's line of work; that the kid turns out to be a natural only makes Roy that much uncomfortable.
"You're not a bad guy, you know," Angela tells Roy. "You're just not a very good one." Roy only has a grasp of words when he's talking to targets ("For some people, money is a foreign film without subtitles" is one of his reliable lines), so when he tries to have heart-to-hearts with Angela, they tend to turn into jumbles of almost unintelligible clichés. The chemistry between Cage -- who successfully makes Roy both funny and recognizably human, even when the character is going around the bend -- and Lohman (previously seen as Michelle Pfeiffer's tormented daughter in last year's "White Oleander") makes their oddball dialogues every bit as intriguing as the various scams engineered by Roy and his overly caffeinated partner Frank (the always off-center Sam Rockwell).
While this territory has been investigated before, most notably in director Stephen Frears' memorably nasty "The Grifters," screenwriters Nicholas and Ted Griffin concoct a sinuous plot with many choice comic moments. Scott and his production team serve up an eye-pleasing picture full of shimmering colors and adventurous touches, such as the distortion lenses and staccato jump cuts that show the world from Roy's panicked point of view. Hans Zimmer's score, which is rich in accordions, xylophones and organs, is the perfect aural complement.
Rating:
Summary: Remarkable Acting
Review: well, for start let me just disagree with those reviewers who say there was no script. I'm not sure what is your definition of "scrpit" so I can't challenge you on that. However I loved this movie. The story line is very nice. When I found out who's really who I was totally shocked. I shouldn't tell more, but I will, so If you havent watched the movie stop reading right here or u'll find out about the whole movie and it'll get spoiled. ok, when I found out that the girl isn't the actuall child of Cage I didnt know what to say. I mean this is a movie that I won't enjoy to watch two times. BUT if you wanna enjoy the movie, just do by following the story not the HOW's and WHY's. I personally have some issues with this movie. but hey if it was a one time enjoyment, let it be just that. sure it can't be compairable to award winning movies, but still its a nice movie. I really felt the exact way Cage felt when he saw his daughter for the first time or when he didn't want or infact need to know her real name, because he still knew her as his daughter or at least some little girl who he likes as much as he would his daughter. I don't know how could I explain this better..I could see the love in his and her eyes. This movie somehow touched me.
I hope this review was helpful, although it wasn't professional ideas. simply a dad's review of a movie he liked.
Rating: 
Summary: The Matches have no script....
Review: It's amazing to me how many film critics can say a film is great, then you go and see it, and have to wonder what was the actual film that they saw, because when you see it, it really stinks. Matchstick Man falls apart before it even starts largely on a weak script and performances that are so wooden that you wish someone would take the movie and recast it so that some life and humanity can be injected into it. But that never happens and we are left with a picture that is so devoid of humanity and likeable chareceters that you want to go home and cry that you wasted two hours of your like watching a lifeless picture.
Rating:
Summary: Brilliantly Acted Caper
Review: Matchstick Men serves as a virtual manual in the complex art of screen acting. Nicholas Cage scores one of the greatest triumphs of his turbulent career as an obsessive-compulsive con-artist who fears fresh air, ticks, and dirt and devours an endless series of pills to keep from obsessing over the unkempt appearance of his carpet. Faced with the challenge of portraying an individual who is characterized by his emotional instability and diversity, Cage effortlessly changes the tone and texture of his performance from scene to scene and conveys a greater range of emotions than most actors tackle in half a dozen movies. He is unabashedly charismatic and debonair as he convinces elderly ladies that the key to achieving a fabulous prize is to transfer money into his bank account, frighteningly compelling as he desperately begs a psychiatrist for stabilizing medication and remarkably poignant as he reflects on his inability to form meaningful connections with other people. Cage's work is complemented brilliantly by the supporting performances of Sam Rockwell and Allison Lohman, which each express a sardonic perceptiveness and youthful zest for life that plays remarkably well against the leading actor's edgy paranoia.
As it turns out, the movie that contains these Oscar worthy characterizations isn't half bad either. The engaging script by Ted and Nicholas Griffin tells the story of Roy Waller (Cage), a "matchstick man" whose life is turned upside down when he learns that he is the father of a spirited adolescent girl named Angela (Lohman). Roy's humorous efforts to become a doting and morally responsible parent complicate his profitable partnership with wisecracking con-man Frank Mercer (Rockwell) and ultimately threaten his efforts to swindle a conniving business executive (Bruce McGill) out of several million dollars. The film abounds with dozens of scenes that radiate warmth and charm, including a delightful sequence where Roy teaches Angela the craft of con artistry by helping her convince an overworked housewife that she has won the lottery, a humorously touching episode when Angela attempts to teach her insecure father how to bowl and an indescribably hilarious moment when Frank tries to get under his neurotic partner's skin by coming on to him in an airport (this is worth the price of admission alone). Director Ridley Scott also enlivens the proceedings by featuring an appropriately glossy soundtrack of old Sinatra tunes and reflecting the mood of the characters in the nature of cinematography (Ray's ultra neat home has a sterile, blue texture and the outdoor locations are all uncomfortably bright to stress Ray's discomfort in the open air). Regrettably, Scott has chosen to saddle this charming film with a clever but heartless "twist" ending that undermines much of the character growth that the audience has just witnessed. I left the theater feeling as swindled and abused as one of Ray's hapless victims, although some of my companions admired the sheer audacity the director displayed by drastically defying the audience's expectations. These rich and vivid characters deserved a better fate than Scott dealt them, and the talented actors most certainly should have demanded more emotionally satisfying material. However, as the old saying goes, when one has just enjoyed a delicious and opulent feast, it is silly to complain that your coffee is a little cold.
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