My Review on Matchstick Men Essay

Matchstick men means a kind of person who can have others buy his things, even just a box of matchsticks, with his excellent deception and eloquence. Therefore, they are also called cheaters or con artists. In the film Matchstick Men, the main character Roy was such kind of an outstanding con artist who always cheated others. With his partner Frank, he made a lot of bucks. Whereas, he suffered from odd disease which gave him many pain. Things get to a turning point when a daughter called Angela came into his life. Roy gave deep love to her and gradually overcame his illness. As a result, he wanted to give up cheating others and be a responsible father. Nevertheless, after an accident, Angela killed someone that was cheated by them and Roy decided to sacrifice himself to protect his daughter. In the end, however, Roy found that all of this turned out to be a fraud which was directed by Frank. Ironically, he lost all his money that was also earned by cheating. What a joke! An excellent con artist though he was, Roy was cheated by his partner. And it really makes me realize the importance of communicating with others. Imagine the situation that when Roy heard he had a 14-year-old daughter, if he could phone his ex-wife and talk about it, perhaps the fraud could be debunked. However, Roy was afraid of talking with his ex-wife and failed to face the past, as a result, that gave cheaters a good opportunity to continue their plan. Besides, the movie also shows me the power of love. Before the appearance of Angela, Roy had serious illness and heavily relied on pills. It was the love to his daughter that cured him. He no longer ate pills and could eat pizza with his daughter on the carpet without caring about the clearness. In fact, he enjoyed time staying with her and had the happiest time in his life. So at the end of the movie, when Roy met the false ‘daughter’, though he was angry, he didn’t choose to revenge but to forgive her. Love made a difference on him and changed his life. Another point I want to express is that misfortune may turn out to be an actual fortune. On the one hand, Roy was cheated and lost all of his money. From this aspect, he was absolutely unfortunate. However, during that period, he earned happiness and lightened his illness. After that he gave up cheating others and began a totally new life as a salesman. Money is important but compared with love, health and happiness, money is nothing. Though life deprived Roy of his money, he got love, happiness and health instead. Hence, when life is tough for us, we should see it from different aspects. Although we may lose something, we can also gain other things more important instead.