Matchstick Men

        Consider the plight of the single father trying to cope with a teenage daughter. There are moments of sheer, mutual incomprehension, frustrated anger at the breaking of unstated rules, and awkward, fumbling attempts at affection.
        Now compound the issue. Father and daughter have been complete strangers since before her birth. The father is barely able to cope with himself, suffering from an array of neuroses and compulsive tics. The family business – the confidence game – is not exactly the type of profession we want to share with our children.
        And - oh, yes – the father and his partner are right in the middle of the biggest con of their careers.
        That’s the set-up for Matchstick Men, the most heralded of three new movies opening at Carmike Cinema this weekend. And while none of the elements of the film are all that original, Nicholas Cage’s performance as the obsessive-compulsive con man (excuse me – con “artist”) Roy Waller and Alison Lohmann’s as his 14-year-old daughter Angela place their awkward relationship firmly at the human heart of the movie.
        We have seen much of this before. Cage’s character is a criminal counterpart to Tony Shalhoub’s obsessive-compulsive detective in Monk, complete with a passion for antiseptic cleanliness and the numerically significant repetition of inconsequential actions. The plot of a team of con men (the older, successful partner mentoring a younger, more ambitious con) setting up a complicated sting powers dozens of films, from The Sting to Heartbreakers. The clueless parent who finds new satisfaction with life through the chaotic introduction of a newly discovered offspring has framed any number of television shows and movies.
        Ecclesiastes tells us “What has been will be again, what has been done will be done again; there is nothing new under the sun,” and originality of plot has always been somewhat overrated. After all, even Shakespeare took most of his plots from existing stories, didn’t he?
        What makes Matchstick Men compelling are the moments of human connection sprinkled through the movie. Cage’s initial encounters with the daughter touchingly show the deep well of need for human affection that he has suppressed for many years. He stares at her constantly, stumbles over words, doesn’t know how to show physical affection – only that he desperately needs to have someone close to him.   He never knew he needed a daughter until he had one.
        Sheila Kelly (LA Law), in a small role as Cage’s favorite grocery-store cashier, provides another source of connection. Cage’s attraction to Kathy intensifies through meaningful glances and minimal dialogue until we feel like cheering when he finally breaks through his social shell to speak to her. There is also a tender and funny bit with Roy’s partner Frank (Sam Rockwell) helping Cage after the senior con man has lost the pills that keep him functioning.
        Most of all, though, there is Lohmann’s performance as Cage’s 14-year-old daughter. She disrupts his life, dropping stuff everywhere in his meticulously clean home, then incongruously telling him, “I could help clean up” to repay him for letting her stay with him. She captures the firestorm of adolescent emotion when she seems unable to find a place with either her mother or her father, and is absolutely convincing at different points in the film both as a relatively innocent young teen and as a much older girl.
        As Angela and Roy bond and the two con artists pull off their big score, everything seems to be headed for a nice, predictable conclusion. But that just sets the audience up for a roller-coaster ride of unexpected reversals and surprise revelations in the final 20 minutes of the film. Ultimately, director Ridley Scott (Black Hawk Down, Gladiator) sets up his audience perfectly for the best kind of con – one which even those who have been fooled have to admire and enjoy.