"The man who said "I'd rather be lucky than good" saw deeply into life. People are afraid to face how great a part of life is dependent on luck. It's scary to think so much is out of one's control. There are moments in a match when the ball hits the top of the net and for a split second it can either go forward or fall back. With a little luck it goes forward and you win. Or maybe it doesn't and you lose."

A one-time tennis pro, Chris Wilton (Jonathan Rhys Meyers) was used to falling just short in his life. But when he befriends Tom Hewett (Matthew Goode) and marries his sister, Chloe (Emily Mortimer), the doors are opened to the kind of money and success that Chris had once only dreamed of having. Chris should have settled for happiness, but he is torn by his attraction to Tom's impossibly beautiful and alluring fiancée, Nola (Scarlett Johansson). The attraction turns to an obsession that forces Chris to make a critical choice. Now everything in his life hinges on whether or not Chris falls short again...and if his luck runs out.

I’m not the biggest fan of Woody Allen’s movies for several reasons and while he fixed the main reason I don’t like his movies with Match Point there are still a number of other reason’s that aren’t fixed. My biggest problem normally is that Woody always casts himself in the romantic lead and that never works for me because I have trouble accepting someone like Diane Keaton would be even remotely interested in this overly dork pretentious man who reminds me of a stuffy art critic. Is it any wonder most of his movies revolved around New York City and his idiosyncrasies but he manages to escape all that in Match Point while still sticking to that stuffy art critic, I am better than you kind of theme which is a shame because the movie couldn’t have been better without that feel to it.

Woody Allen movies are very deliberate and almost methodical as they build up to this climax that always isn’t that great but is interesting to say the least. This very mundane methodical pace that his movies take on as he develops his characters so that the ending can be something interesting and somewhat fantastic and this can make the film very slow and drag along as we wait and wait for something to happen to them. I understand the character development is very important to the climax of the movie because if you don’t understand Chris Wilton you will never understand why he does what he does, for him he does take what he sees as the path of least resistance that many of us would think he is crazy for going that route. So you need to understand the character to understand why that is the path of least resistance for him but it is done so deliberately that the movie nearly lost me. Oh, don’t get me wrong I liked the movie but like many of you out there will probably agree, Woody Allen movies aren’t my cup of tea and me liking it was as far as it went.

Don’t get me wrong there was a number of elements I truly enjoyed as he does build up for the climax very well dropping numerous hints that when he hits you with what Chris’ path of least resistance is it is like all the pieces of the puzzle coming together which is kind of mind boggling to say the least. I like how everything is a piece in a much larger puzzle that you can’t see tell the very end and that’s why I ended up liking the movie even though for a large portion of the middle of the film I found myself bored,

If you can say one thing about Woody films is they are very sensual and sexual and it is not hard to find Scarlett Johansson very sensual and sexual. Because Woody stayed away from casting himself opposite her the movie remains very sexual and you can almost feel the lust between her and Jonathan Rhys-Meyers melting the screen. Jonathan Rhys-Meyers and Scarlett Johansson do have a chemistry that makes the movie work. I liked the movie more than most Woody Allen films I have seen because it seemed to have less of Woody Allen himself and maybe that’s a good thing.
Grade: C+