‎Matchstick Men (2003) directed by Ridley Scott • Reviews, film + cast • Letterboxd

Matchstick Men

2003 Directed by Ridley Scott

Lie. Cheat. Steal. Rinse. Repeat.

A phobic con artist and his protege are on the verge of pulling off a lucrative swindle when the con artist's teenage daughter arrives unexpectedly.

Nicolas Cage Sam Rockwell Alison Lohman Bruce Altman Bruce McGill Jenny O'Hara Steve Eastin Beth Grant Sheila Kelley Fran Kranz Tim Kelleher Nigel Gibbs Bill Saito Tim Maculan Giannina Facio

116 mins More details at IMDb TMDb Report this film

Popular reviews

Review by davidehrlich ★★★★ 7

For a deeply satisfying movie that hinges on a career-defining performance from one of modern cinema’s most fascinating stars, Ridley Scott’s “Matchstick Men” has a strange way of falling through the cracks. Released to a tepid response in September 2003, this slippery tale of a con artist with a guilty conscience was too much of a tweener to find the audience it deserved, and — much like its twitchy protagonist — was also conflicted about swindling people out of their money. For a major Hollywood film that climaxes with a bare-assed Nicolas Cage running around an L.A. parking garage, its “B” Cinemascore is borderline miraculous.

Even now, 15 years to the month since its debut, “Matchstick Men” lurks in the…
Review by Peaceful Stoner ★★★★ 14

I regret not watching matchstick men before today. This one film in itself is proof that Nic Cage can act and what he is been doing or the directors have been doing all through his life conning him into doing stupid roles except for maybe a few like this one, Lord of War, Leaving Las Vegas and Adaptation.

Any film which has a character with ocd gives a considerable amount of intrigue and likeability. Nic Cage here suffers from a multitude of phobias and he is so believable in his mannerisms. On a whole he just perfectly exectued his role in this film. He attracted so much affection from me even more than Rockwell in this(and I thought he was…
Review by Evan ★★★½ 3

Another iconic Nic Cage freakout. It was short and subtle, but it was still the work of master. The way he told that man to piss blood was inspirational.
Review by Matt J. ★★★★ 4

This is a wonderful film about con men, who are played by the great Sam Rockwell and Nicholas Cage, in one of my favorite Cage roles. Their world is turned upside down when Cage meets his 14-year-old daughter for the first time.
Review by Kyle ★★★½ 9

Do people still think Nicolas Cage is the worst actor alive?

Personally, I'm hoping that we as a society can stop directing hate towards Cage's acting skills and instead send it to his choice in roles. There's no reason for the man who starred in Adaptation to be the face of the Ghost Rider franchise. I'm getting off-topic. Let's talk about Matchstick Men.

If someone were to do a Top 5 list for Cage, Matchstick Men would definitely be in it. He plays Roy, a con man (oh excuse me, "con artist") suffering from a multitude of phobias. He's successful at what he does, amassing over a million dollars. Cage's performance is great. He knows just when to include that…
Review by Jack Attack ★★★½ 2

Look, you guys can go on and talk about the brilliance of Alien and Blade Runner but let's be honest, Ridley Scott's direction peaked with Nicolas Cage in a pharmacy, yelling at bystanders "Have you ever been dragged and beaten onto the sidewalk until you PISSED BLOOOOD!!!".

Actually, come to think of it. That probably had nothing to do with Ridley, most likely just Cage being Cage.

Recent reviews

Review by London ★★★★★

Every once I a while a movie comes along that grabs you by the throat and throws you on the ground completely unexpectedly. Matchstick men is one of these movie. While having the veil of a heist/con movie, it really is so much more, diving into the very psyche of Roy Waller.

Brilliantly directed and with one of the greatest performances ever seen by Nicolas Cage, Matchstick Men may just be one, if not THE greatest works of Ridley Scott. Everything I can think of about this movie was phenomenal. The acting, the directing, the score, MY GOD how the soundtrack fit perfectly with the film. This movie will make you laugh, and it may just hit the point where you cry too.

The main take away from this is that Matchstick Men is not only the greatest Nic Cage movie I have seen thus far, it is also one of the greatest Con movies I have seen.
Review by Bendegúz Lencsés ★★★½

Nico Cage is fantastic in this role.
Review by Nathan De Oliveira ★★★★

A very character-driven film that is pretty well researched into the subject matter of OCD. Watched it for an AP Psych analysis and I had a great time
Review by Kevin Films ★★★★

Nic cage and Sam Rockwell are on fire in this movie. I just wanted to see their characters in a room for 2 hours and I would be as happy.

Kinda suprised this came from Ridley Scott, but he did a great job with this movie.
Review by Gavrilo

Ridley Scott’s career is totally baffling to me. It’s hard to imagine that the same guy who did Alien and Blade Runner could also do this. I loved every second of this fun, goofy, occasionally aimless movie, but I have no idea what the impulse behind it was other than Scott thinking “Yeah, why not?”

EDIT: I will not rest until I have seen every Nicolas Cage movie.
Review by M.K. Rhodes ★★½

Extremely 2003.
Review by mnemtsov ★★

This review may contain spoilers. I can handle the truth.

Eh, pretty uneven fare. Lots of convenient copouts in the film. The happy ending is really undeserved. Esp with the “daughter” not being a criminal but being an accomplice on this one, very important crime. Frank’s character is also pretty underdeveloped. The Nic Cafe performance is pretty excellent actually saving a movie that drags a lot and its story is reasonably obvious.
Review by Cinefetiche ★★★½

I miss Alison Lhoman :(
Review by Michael DeSilva

8.0/10