comment #1

Noah says ...

Every time a new Woody Allen flick comes out, we get the stories about how he's "lost it." That is, until he makes a film that everyone likes and then "Woody's back!" The guy makes a film every year and some of them are good, some of them are mediocre. But his average films are still more entertaining that most films that come out every year.

comment #2

AJW says ...

"Though it starred Scarlett Johansson, left, London-based Match Point (2005) received only lukewarm praise from critics and was shunned by audiences who stayed at home."

Is this true? I know it didn't earn much at the box office, but wasn't it well-received by critics?

comment #3

York "Budd" Durden says ...

Revisionist history. Even w/out checking into it, I know for a fact that the picture was generally well-received (though, I recall, in a sort of grudging admiration that it thankfully wasn't as horrible as the previous few Woodys.)

Furthermore, the film was a box office success in the context of the Woodman's record in the previous decade--but that only means that it cracked $20m.

comment #4

Filipe says ...

It's a british article and the film got pretty bad reviews there.

comment #5

D.Z. says ...

http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20070902/film_nm/venice_allen_dc;_ylt=AvRrg.2IbG34HkdvKkIGUfQwFxkF

comment #6

Undercover Brother says ...

Allen is gone and has been gone for quite awhile. "Match Point" was a nice throwback but you can only give so much credit as it's essentially a remake of an earlier movie. That being the Landau half of "Crimes and Misdemeanors." This isn't really bad news so much as it is the same news. Woody Allen made another boring, half-hearted flick that fails to intrigue or quicken the pulse. Is anyone really surprised?

comment #7

York "Budd" Durden says ...

Not only that, but Match Point was also nothing more than an almost exact rehash of the Dreiser novel An American Tragedy. As much as I felt that MP was, if not a return to form per se for Woody, the point-by-point lifting of the plot from a classic novel really annoyed me.

Sort of like how Death Sentence utterly and completely steals--not borrows--elements of the Taxi Driver denouement.

comment #8

York "Budd" Durden says ...

Not only that, but Match Point was also nothing more than an almost exact rehash of the Dreiser novel An American Tragedy. As much as I felt that MP was, if not a return to form per se for Woody, a pretty decent time at the movies, the point-by-point lifting of the plot from a classic novel really annoyed me.

Sort of like how Death Sentence utterly and completely steals--not borrows--elements of the Taxi Driver denouement.

comment #9

corey3rd says ...

Woody hasn't been back in soooooo long as far as a mass audience goes. maybe for critics who don't pay to see his films and the "devoted," they'll argue if he's back. But for many, he's worked himself into a niche and seems to enjoy it. As long as his films play in Manhattan, he think he's master of the universe. For those who once hunted down that solo theater that booked his movies, he's become a "we'll see it on DVD" director since his films seem to rarely pop up on cable.

comment #10

arch451 says ...

Woody has always been hit or miss. He is still very capable of making masterpieces. I think Match Point is a much better movie than Crimes and Misdemeanors.

comment #11

MathewM says ...

What's with the Woody bashing? So he only puts out a great movie every few years. If the film doesn't sound interesting then don't see it. BTW Match Point was one of the best films of 05'.

comment #12

christian says ...

"i know it didn't earn much at the box office, but wasn't it well-received by critics?"

MATCH POINT made an incredible 85 million dollars - it was one of woody's biggest worldwide hits ever. has anybody noted this?

comment #13

StevenK says ...

Match Point was not only one of the best films of 2005, but was a critical and commercial success as well. In the US, it made $23 million from about 500 screens - an excellent result - and then made a further $25 million on DVD. It did extremely well overseas, too (here in Australia it became his most successful release ever). So I'd say it reached a wide audience. In fact, his last two flicks cost $30 million between them and made about $130 million (not counting DVD). Not bad.

As for this article - the author of this bilious piece seems to be unaware that Woody has just finished shooting his next film (the Barcelona project) and will soon start planning the one after that. The simple fact is that he will continue making a film a year until he himself decides it's time to stop.

comment #14

christian says ...

being on the left used to mean anti-preemptive war; corporate corruption; pro-union; pro-health care; and anti-monopoly. i don't know how my take on these positions is the wacky left -- it's what democrats are supposed to support. which is why the sight of libertarian repubs like kristol and sullivan streaming after hillary and obama is disturbing. and edwards has taken a more populist approach -- as opposed to hillary and her nukes on the table servicing lobbyists bs. anyway, the system is fucked.

comment #15

christian says ...

please ignore the post above. somehow it shifted over here....

comment #16

Nate West says ...

McNab seems most perturbed with with two aspects of Woody's film:

(1) the accents
(2) no jokes

And don't forget: Hitchcock's "The Man Who Knew Too Much" was essentially a remake of Hitchcock's "The Man Who Knew Too Much."

comment #17

nemo says ...

I was about to post the data from the-numbers.com that "Match Point" made $23 million in the US and $87 million globally -- not at all a box office failure. Glad to see someone else posted that data and called out that nonsense.

The production cost on MP was only $15 million. Even back in the 1970s Woody Allen was famous for keeping his costs low. Even back then most of his films were only modest successes, with the occasional box office hit. But his films his films from the 1960s through the 1980s always made money, because he always kept his budget low, and finished on time and under budget.

During the last 15 years he probably has lost money on a lot of his films, but he still makes it back occasionally on his successes, like "Match Point".

comment #18

nemo says ...

Why is he blaming Woody Allen for the accents? Getting the accent right is the actor's job, not the director's.

I suppose he can blame the director for not recognizing when an actor is doing a poor job with an accent. But then what? The director's not going to do the accent. Either he drags in an accent coach or else fires the actor and hires someone who can do the accent right. Probably neither one is an option on Woody Allen's famously tight budget.

But probably what's really going on is a Brit critic thinking an American can't possibly get right the endless variety and shades of meaning of British accents.