Matchstick Men

Nicolas Cage is a hard pill to swallow for some movie fans, but rest assured that Matchstick Men is one to include in the handful of films that the actor has participated in that are actually worth watching. Though haters of Cage aren't going to warm up to Roy — an overly quirky con-man who weasels money from unsuspecting people with the help of his partner Frank, played by the incredible Sam Rockwell. When Roy meets his 14-year-old daughter for the first time, things change and even though Roy and Frank are about to pull off a huge job, Roy wants to make sure that Angela doesn't follow in her father's footsteps and tries to guide her along the straight path. Matchstick Men is a great story that balances comedy with suspense and includes a breakthrough performance by Alison Lohman that will have you completely convinced that she's barely a teenager, though the actress was 21 when principal shooting started. The DVD contains over an hour's worth of "making of" footage that's broken down into three sections: pre-production, production and post-production. Most of this footage is actually quite dull, as the crew scout locations while director Ridley Scott chomps on numerous cigars. With most of the worthwhile footage taking place in the "production" featurette, these segments could have easily been lumped into one and been reduced to at least half its running length to make for a more interesting watch. The commentary with Scott, along with writers Nicholas and Ted Griffin, is your standard affair, although you can tell that the director and his writers were not in the same place at the same time, losing any sort of actual dialogue and chemistry. Matchstick Men is a great film, but it's best to just leave it at that and consider skipping the technical details. (Warner)