Matchstick Men is a good conman/grifter movie. Wished I hadn’t figured out one of the big surprises early on as I’d have liked it more if I’d been more surprised. Which isn’t to say it’s not a great movie – it just means that I regretted knowing what was going to happen since the darn thing was so good otherwise.

In case you don’t know, Cage plays an obsessive compulsive conman who finds out he has a 12 year old daughter. The relationship between dad and new daughter is just wonderful. Very charming and wonderful and human. Very sweet. Fun.

Cage is, of course, very good.

The girl – played by a gal named Alison Lohman – is academy award material – EASILY. Why she is award-worthy is one of the film’s surprises that I did NOT see coming.

I loved her in this movie because she was a cool kid – a pretty 12-13 year old who was just the kind of young kid that I’d want if I had a daughter – a kid who can make you feel young. It’s so rare to find a teen (or pre-teen) who is just a young person, somewhere between being a kid and being a teenager.

Just a really well made grifter movie with a mix (for me) of obvioust and surprise twists. I guess that’s what makes a good conman film.

Score: 88