The world of crime – at least in its cinematic form – has its own particular idioms and terminologies. From bean shooters and stool pigeons to the more recent verbal offerings of mullinskis and pikies, language has long been a key part of the underworld culture. For years we’ve become accustomed to the dialect of the crim, grifter, flim flam man and gangster.
The latest celluloid moniker for a con man is ‘matchstick man’. As far as job titles go, Roy (Nicholas Cage) can live with it, but he prefers to think of himself as a con artist. He doesn’t take people’s money, they give it to him.
Working with his ambitious protégé Frank (Sam Rockwell), Roy has perfected the small time con. Together they fleece unsuspecting suburbanites of a few hundred here and a few thousand there. It’s an efficient but entirely glamour-free operation.
In fact Roy’s very existence is devoid of glamour and appeal. A neurotic, obsessive-compulsive, Roy is a walking bundle of tics and spasms. He dislikes the outdoors, shoes on carpet, dirt, disorder and changes to his routine. He eats tuna from a tin to avoid creating mess. He wraps his garbage in plastic before disposing of it.
When his supplier of pharmaceutical comfort disappears, Roy is forced to unburden himself to a psychiatrist in exchange for medication. Roy’s problems – according to Dr Klein – are not physical but relational and moral. It’s as if his conscience has manifested itself entirely in his physiology.
When his long-lost daughter Angela enters his life he finds his house turned upside down but his heart is the healthiest it has been in years.
Succumbing to Frank’s nagging, he agrees to pull a big con on a greedy businessman – namely the old Jamaican switch. But can Roy balance the demands of parenthood with the stress of his dubious profession?
Directed by British filmmaker Ridley Scott, Matchstick Men is a caper movie that is more interested in character development than crime. Cage’s meticulous performance drives the film. He whoops, twitches and cleans manically. And when his daughter shows a knack for the con, he’s more proud than he thought possible.
Scott’s compelling film departs from the usual popcorn tone typical of this genre. And for a movie about dishonesty there is an alarming amount of honesty. While depicting the allure of money, Matchstick Men also indicates the fickleness of wealth and the emptiness of greed. Roy’s life of crime – however he tries to justify it – fails to satisfy him and has a deleterious effect on his basic functioning as a human being.
Roy learns it’s not possible to be a decent human being while his life is mired in deception and deceit.
Witty, ironic and, at times tense, Matchstick Men joins the plethora of caper movies to hit the cinema recently. But here is a film that admits that crime can pay but it can also carry a heavy cost.
