Matchstick Men (2003)

Directed by Ridley Scott. Starring Nicolas Cage, Alison Lohman, Sam Rockwell, Bruce Altman, Bruce McGill, Sheila Kelley, Beth Grant. [PG-13]

Roy Waller (Cage) isn’t your run-of-the-mill con artist—he suffers from severe OCD and Tourette’s—but he and partner Frank (Rockwell) have a good thing going, duping marks with a fake prize/lottery scam. Enter Angela (Lohman), the precocious 14-year-old daughter he’s never met before, who not only throws his fragile world into a spin, but makes him rethink his priorities. More sentimental and low-stakes than the average movie of its ilk, based off a same-named book by Eric Garcia, with offbeat moments mingling well with the calculated, commercial elements. Although it’s slickly crafted and artfully designed, it’s one of those conman movies that cons the audience, and as soon as that becomes apparent, the glaring plot holes come into view and its sour reversal is easily spotted in advance (and there’s nothing under the rug when it gets pulled out, so watch that landing). Cage keeps the tics, twitches, and eruptions on just the right side of unhinged excess, and 23-year-old Lohman is surprisingly convincing as a teenager. One key characterization borders on being fatally flawed, but to explain why would be a spoiler. Melora Walters went unbilled for her brief appearance as Cage’s ex.

66/100