ROY (Nicholas Cage) is a most unlikely con man: an obsessive compulsive, chain-smoking agoraphobe with various nervous tics, who cannot leave his house without opening and closing each door three times.

Together with his charismatic right-hand man Frank (Sam Rockwell), Roy ekes out a meagre living by persuading strangers to part with their hard-earned cash.

The pair's carefully ordered plans are thrown into disarray by the arrival of Roy's estranged 14-year-old daughter Angela (Alison Lohman).

Angela bullies her father into teaching her a few tricks of the trade. She displays a remarkable talent for Roy's questionable career.

When Roy and Frank's latest scam - to hoodwink crass millionaire Chuck Frechette (Bruce McGill) - threatens to go belly-up, Angela volunteers to help with the deception.

Against his better judgement, Roy agrees, and the plucky youngster soon finds herself in the firing line when the swindle goes terribly wrong.

Matchstick Men is a splendid example of misdirection and sleight of hand from director Ridley Scott and co-writers Nicholas Griffin and Ted Griffin, who navigate the film through its many unexpected twists and revelations.

Collectively, the film-makers conceal a whole pack of aces up their sleeve, and it's only towards the end of the film, when you begin actively looking for possible double bluffs, that you can predict the twists before they happen.

Roy's fragile mental condition provides Cage with rich pickings for his lead performance.

The Oscar-winning actor invests the con man with various subtle mannerisms, twitches and eccentricities, but is incredibly careful never to make fun of Roy's afflictions.

At the film's heart is the interaction between the characters - in particular how Roy struggles to balance his new responsibilities as a parent ("I'm not very good at being a dad. I barely get by being me," he bewails) with his long-standing commitments to his con partner Frank.

The dialogue crackles with some lovely quotable one-liners, especially when Roy is waxing lyrically about his profession.

When Angela ponders if crime does pay, her father immediately responds, "It does, it does, just not very well".

Rating: 8/10

DAMON SMITH