Thursday, September 18, 2014

Hopscotch - 7 stars out of 10

Hopscotch - 7 stars out of 10

“Hopscotch” was unexpectedly good.  Walter Matthau’s dry humor is the perfect fit for this off-beat comedy.  I had trouble envisioning this international game of cat-and-mouse as a comedy but the constant situational irony and Matthau’s wit creates humorous moments from start to finish.  A good film requires a good villain, and Ned Beatty fits the bill.  It is easy to dislike Beatty with his constant flow of profane dialogue and unnecessarily rude treatment of Matthau at the beginning of the film, all leading to gleeful enjoyment of every scene inside of the Georgia home.  While the film has a lot of great moments, the plot is rather farfetched and some of the acting falls short of the high standard set by Matthau and Beatty.  I definitely prefer heist films, but this espionage comedy is unlike any story that I’ve seen and I would definitely give it a second watch.


[Pictured: Walter Matthau being himself]