"Matchstick Men" starts off lingering on shots of a beautiful Californian house with a jazzy rendition of "The Good Life" playing in the background. Its owner, however, doesn't appear to be living it up all that much. Roy Waller (Nicolas Cage of "Face Off" and "Con Air") is a nervous, jittery man with a seemingly endless series of tics and obsessive-compulsive behaviors. He lives in solitude not only due to his loathing of people dirtying his personal space, but also because he's a professional con artist who can't have others around to get in the way of his criminal lifestyle. His days go on in relative uniformity, scamming people out of their money by day and neatly disposing of completed canned dinners by night.This all goes on until a visit to his psychiatrist (Bruce Altman of "Changing Lanes") prompts him to get back in touch with his ex-wife of fourteen years, presumably in hopes of moving along his therapy by tying up some loose ends. A phone call reveals that although she has no interest in speaking with Roy, one of those loose ends does: Angela (Alison Lohman of "White Oleander"), the daughter he was unaware even existed. Roy and Angela seem to have little in common except for the uncanny ability to deceive others, a shared talent which gradually draws them closer together.

The dynamic between Roy and Angela as they get to know each other better and move toward a common understanding is sweet without being over-sentimental. Lohman, who is actually quite a bit older than the character she's playing, manages to convey some of the vulnerability and emotion of a teenager without resorting to cutesy "little girl" antics commonly used by many actresses playing younger characters. She and Cage have a nice rapport, making it more believable when Roy, already established as an aloof, misanthropic character, comes to actively enjoy and appreciate Angela's company.

Unfortunately, Angela and Roy are the only well-defined characters in the film. Roy's con man protg Frank (Sam Rockwell of "Charlie's Angels") seems to serve only to move the plot along and to offer a slovenly counterpart for Roy's fastidiousness to play off. He is less of a character than a story-telling device. An attractive store clerk (Sheila Kelley of "Nurse Betty") serves as a sort of love interest for Roy, but chemistry between them is poorly developed and ended abruptly.

Certain narrative elements are somewhat shortchanged as well. An entire subplot about a wealthy man (Bruce McGill of "Legally Blonde 2") with shady connections whom Roy and Frank are planning to cheat is not fully explained. The film is at its best when it focuses not on the typical set pieces such as the carrying-out of the main scam, but on the smaller, more human moments between Roy and Angela. Examples of such moments are the banter between the two when she questions his unusual eating habits and the fun way they work together with perfect efficiency after he has taught her how to successfully pull-off a small-scale job.

For the greater part of the movie, despite its missteps, "Matchstick Men" skips along quickly and enjoyably. That is, until the "twist ending" which comes about rather startlingly, causing one to wonder why the filmmakers would choose to throw the movie off balance in such a manner. Though it works well with the general tone of "Matchstick Men," the ending still feels almost like a betrayal of the very point of the movie, changing around the entire message in just minutes. It takes something away from the story rather than adding to it as good cinematic twists should, and its execution is so clumsy that it makes "Matchstick Men" end up tripping over itself and falling. It is a clever, but unsatisfactory resolution of the film.

Director Ridley Scott, of "Thelma and Louise" and "Gladiator" fame has created a movie that, despite being pleasant and fun at times, certainly doesn't come close to reaching the greatness of his previous films. "Matchstick Men" is too thin and could have used more plot and character development.

Nevertheless, the performances of leads Cage and Lohman keep the film held up in the center, making it nothing less, though nothing more, than an amusing but forgettable lark; a burnt out match.