We’re dipping back into Woody Allen’s extensive filmography. This one isn’t particularly well known but I’ve heard that it’s underrated and it marks the first collaboration between the director and Scarlett Johansson. This is also a British film though Allen originally didn’t mean for that and changed the locale for the sake of raising money. This does matter as it feels like he doesn’t quite know what to do with the British setting.

Chris Wilton retires from professional tennis as he isn’t quite good enough to beat the best players and takes up a job as an instructor at a posh London club. There he befriends Tom Hewitt, the scion of a wealthy family, and is introduced to the rest of the family. He charms Tom’s sister Chloe and quickly becomes romantically involved with her. However when he meets Tom’s fiancée Nola Rice, an American aspiring actress, at a family gathering, he is immediately smitten by her. Even as he grows closer to the Hewitt family, taking up a management job at one of the family’s companies and being groomed to be a worthy husband for Chloe, he takes every opportunity to meet with Nola. Tom eventually breaks things off with Nola, partly due to his mother’s strong disapproval, while Chris does marry Chloe. He loses touch with Nola for a while but when he happens to run into her again at an art gallery, they begin having a torrid affair.

While this film is well made, you do wonder why Allen made it at all as it seems so plain and so straightforward, at least until he switches gears and it turns into a thriller proper. There is some tension at the beginning as you wonder if Chris is being deliberately manipulative as there is something about him that reminds you of the character of Tom Ripley as he effortlessly inserts himself into the lives of the rich Hewitt family. Yet for a very long while, the film is bereft of any real intrigue and Chris seems genuinely invested in his new life. Allen imbues Nola, as played by Johansson, with as much sensuality as he can get away with, and indeed both her character and Chris allude to how she is practically sex on legs. This feels a bit outré in a post-MeToo world. There’s also the almost painful anticipation as you can see that Chris’ uncontrollable lust for Nola will result in an inevitable catastrophe but the crash is a long time coming.

The film itself explains the meaning of its title at the very beginning though it’s only at the end that the audience understands why, The point is purportedly to show that the course of one’s life is often determined by the mere toss of a coin, a matter of pure luck. However as the film takes so long to get to that one pivotal moment, it doesn’t actually ring true. If anything, it’s the Hewitt children who seem supremely lucky for having everything they could possibly want handed to them on a silver platter. Notice that Chloe’s parents basically bought her a husband. Chris on the other hand gets to where he is through cool competence, quick thinking, strong social skills and some measure of genuine hard work. Sure, his lust for Nola threatens to derail all that, but when he enacts his plan to save himself, it’s still his cleverness that shines through more than his luck.

Overall I feel that Match Point is a bit of a mixed bag. For most of its running time, it is simply too unremarkable to stand out. It gets much more exciting once the thriller moves to high gear but it comes so late and feels so different from the rest of the film. Finally the pivotal moment is seen from the point of view of another set of characters entirely. It’s all so awkward and poorly put together and doesn’t even reflect its chosen theme. It’s not a terrible watching experience but I would consider this a subpar Allen film.