Matchstick men is a return to form for master filmmaker Ridley Scott. Although much lower key than his other films Matchstick men is witty, finely paced and well-acted. Nicholas Cage plays a con artist whose plans to pull off a heist are interrupted when his daughter comes to stay with him. Ably supported by Sam Rockwell this is one of those great comedies that defy expectation. Go see it asap.

This might be the answer to all of Nicholas Cage's detractors who dislike his overacting and bursts of madness. He seems the perfect actor to play Roy, a conman who has a severe case of OCD. Cage adds to his portrayals a strong range of facial tics, stutters and uncontrollable bursts of emotions - sometimes matching those of his newly discovered teenage daughter. More immediately striking is the visual techniques that Ridley Scott employs to heighten his sense of paraonia and loss of control - speeding up and slowing down footage, rewinding the surrounding events, chopping up the soundtrack. When Roy goes through his usual obsessive ritual of counting the locks on his door, Ridley responds with 3 successive cuts to show how gingerly he screens the people entering his home. As he struggles to find more placebo pills on the phone, the cuts jump from side to side erratically as his anxiety builds. And when he wakes up after a nasty hit to the head, the frame is flattened and compressed to suit his POV. He and his partner Roy are smooth operators. They slip seamlessly into their roles over the phone; able to imagine and fabricate whole offices and businesses and co-workers with only their words. I am reminded of similar ability in the characters of Glengarry Glen Ross. Angela is also a great little actress, although we do not know it yet - moody, depressive, upbeat and teasing all rolled into one. The relationship is sweet beyond the long term implications of Roy's career, so naturally we begin to root for them to succeed. Roy shares this new joy of his with the targeted victim for the pigeon drop, exchanging those chuckling anecdotes that a loving father would. But we do begin to question whether he pulls it off so well because he is a veteran conman, or if it is because he is truly warming up to Angela. .Many have expressed discontentment at the rather tame ending. Perhaps they'd like Roy to unload on Angela and yell at her for conning him like hat. I think it's perfectly wrapped up; anger won't change what already happened, and he realises that he is now at peace with his ordinary life and happier than he ever was as a conman. That's about as far as the screenplay really reaches for. Besides the plot holes and conveniences that I'm sure everyone will be quick to point out, it's a bit presumptuous to simply assume that with a more stable life that his OCD would suddenly be resolved like some neat plot point. And again with the supermarket cashier, who doesn't really add anything of note except to symbolise his now happier life. But apart from all this, it's an enjoyable enough film.

As Ridley Scott movies go, "Matchstick Men" is a small one. There aren't any replicants, gladiators or xenomorphs, but it's still a good bit of fun. Sam Rockwell's involved, so the cast is great by default, but Alison Lohman's no slouch. And Nicolas Cage wrings every laugh possible from his OCD tics. But it's a con artist movie (damn good one, too) and just when you think you've got it pegged as a sweet father/daughter story, up is suddenly down and you've been had this entire time. And it's not a cheap swindle, but one that definitely pays off in the end. The twists are well staged and the sentiment is genuine. Great movie.8/10

Roy, a veteran con man, has a new protégé working with him, Frank. The duo has just planed the biggest con of their careers: selling a water filtration system, by which they ask for a price ten times higher than its true value, But unfortunately Roy has a problem that threatens his crime life, he suffers from agoraphobia and has to be addressed urgently. Shortly after starting the therapy sessions, Roy discovers he has a teenage daughter and she is interested in following his footsteps.I was surprised, i did not expect this movie to be so good, excellent performance by Nicolas Cage in what is easily one of his best films, it is difficult to talk about the film without spoiling it for you, but i didn't find it very confusing i guess you have to be very focus to understand the movie in its entirety, as for the twist i really didn't see it coming. Of Course i recommend it. My vote is 8.Title (Portugal) - "Amigos do Alheio" ("Friends Of someone else")