Matchstick Men - DVD review

Matchstick Men

Starring Nicolas Cage, Sam Rockwell and Alison Lohman

Rated PG-13

This is a hilarious movie that will keep you in stitches.  Nicolas Cage plays Roy, a con man who seemingly has obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD), among a myriad of other neuroses.  Sam Rockwell plays Frank, Roy’s partner in crime.  Alison Lohman plays Angela, Roy’s long lost daughter.

Roy and Frank are con artists, matchstick men, who pull mainly small con games on people; for instance taking no more than a few hundred or a thousand bucks at a time.  They are always on the lookout for a big score.  Roy considers Frank his protégé. Frank is very suave and reels the customers, er, marks in. Roy, on the other hand, has many neuroses and he has to handle the problems that Frank encounters and he is the “brains” behind many of the operations. Roy has a fear of a lot of things. He has many tics as well. This makes for very hilarious movie watching. Cage does a good job of playing a character with OCD – he never misses a beat.

Roy runs into trouble when his pills run out and the person who has been getting them for him illegally turns up missing. So, he turns to a therapist that Frank recommends. In the course of his therapy, Roy discloses that he might have had a child with his ex-girlfriend.  The therapist convinces Roy to contact the ex-girlfriend, but Roy begs the therapist to contact the ex-girlfriend for Roy. Roy is surprised when he discovers that he is indeed a father and the child, Angela, now 14, wants to meet him.

The rest of the movie is mainly about Roy and Angela and how their relationship blossoms.  However, it would not be a story without a major twist or two thrown in, and I’ll throw you a small bone – Roy teaches Angela how to do what he does and she becomes a part of their operation. What happens next will keep you on the edge of your seat, or leave you scratching your head.