Girls of Geek Movie Review: Matchstick Men

Written by Scotty

With all kinds of trouble around the country, not everyone pays attention to who the real con artists are.  With so many people paying for scams, be it something on the internet, cashing a check from Siberia or roofers that never come back after getting a check.  It is hard to know who you can trust these days, but your family and friends should always be on that list as they would never do anything to take advantage of your trust.

Roy Waller and Frank Mercer are at the top of their games, running scams that allow them to get paid twice from their marks.  Running cold calls and telling the winners that they will not have to pay any tax on their winnings if they purchase a water filter for much higher than market value, then posing as federal agents and getting all of the account information from the unknowing victims.  It’s a good life and the two are doing just fine, but Roy has been able to save all of his money while Frank has a hard time staying in the black.

Roy has many phobias and each time something is done out of the ordinary he starts to have attacks.  Dropping his medication down the garbage disposal and having his past shrink moving away, Roy is forced to go to a new psychologist who forces him to go through sessions before getting any new pills to keep his fears at bay.  When Roy divulges that he may have a child to his new doctor, it is recommend that he call and find out for sure.  Not being able to do it himself, he asks that his doctor make the call and during his next session, Roy finds out he is a father and his daughter would like to meet him.

Changing his life around and having to make room for another person is something that Roy had never wanted to do, but with the appearance of his daughter Angela at his doorstep one night, he is forced to change his ways.  With the affect Angela has on his life, Roy decides to go in on a long con with his partner that will make them both wealthy men, but what Roy did not think about is what this could do to his life.  With a daughter now, he tries to keep his job and home life separated along with keeping his partner happy, but when the job goes south, he has to watch out for more than just the man that lost his money.

Matchstick Men focuses around the life of Roy Waller, a phobic con man that has more problems than anyone could possibly live with.  Being paired up with his longtime partner Frank, Roy feels comfortable with the small time jobs they are pulling, but Frank wants to pull the big con for big time money.  Roy is hesitant in doing this, but when he finds out that he is a father, all bets are off the table as his life starts to change for the better.  Feeling comfortable around people and their mannerisms, Roy decides to take the job, but something goes wrong and now he is being targeted by the mark, along with his team.  Needing to find a way to get clear of what happened, Roy finds that he might have been right not letting anyone get close to him, but is it too little too late?

One of those movies that you have to watch very carefully from beginning to end if you want to try to predict who is conning who.  Roy is a likeable character and Frank is very charismatic and when you add young Angela into the mix, it is just a trio of joy.  Watching Roy have to grow into his father role right in front of your eyes is a great transformation and even though you might feel a little bit bad for him and all of his quirks, he is only trying to do right for the daughter he neglected for so many years.  If you have any love for Nicholas Cage or Sam Rockwell, this movie showcases both of their strengths and none of their weaknesses.  Happy Viewing.

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