Although Match Point is absorbing, it is a deeply troubling portrait of how godless characters struggle, but fail, to maintain basic standards of morality, and of how sin leads to further sin. Repeated transgressions lead to a disturbing crime toward the film’s conclusion, and the question of whether justice will be served remains in doubt until the final scene. The punch line may leave a sour taste for many, but so much damage has been done to the character’s conscience by that point, and so many biblical truths writ large, that it’s difficult not to come down in favor of the film as a picture of how continued sin leads to a hardening of the heart.

Why do the wicked prosper? The question is as old, at least, as the book of Ecclesiastes, but worth pondering. “The hearts of men are full of evil, and madness is in their hearts while they live. … But he who is joined with all the living has hope” (Ecclesiastes 9:3-4).

Chris’ philosophy of life differs: “You learn to push the guilt under the rug and go on,” he says toward the end of the film. But those dead to their own conscience still must answer to an ultimate Authority. “For God will bring every deed into judgment, with every secret thing, whether good or evil”  (Ecclesiastes 12:14).

AUDIENCE:  Adults only

CAUTIONS:

• Language/Profanity:  The Lord’s name is taken in vain. “Hell”
• Drugs/Alcohol:  Excessive drinking, several scenes of smoking
• Sex/Nudity:  Chris has sex with a woman he has just met; Chris and Nola have sex several times; The characters are covered by bed sheets in all instances; Chloe wants to have Chris’ baby; a character quips that Chris must be “shooting blanks”
• Marriage/Divorce:  Tom breaks off his engagement to Nola after falling for another woman, who is pregnant by their wedding day; Chris marries Chloe but lusts after Nola. Nola speaks of an earlier bad marriage. Chris lies to Chloe about his affair with Nola
• Violence/Crime:  Shotguns are loaded; two murders
• Religion:  God is barely considered, and when He is, He is mocked. Chris’ worldview is based on luck and fate