A 40-something couple from Seattle arrives in New York to interview a flamboyant bi-sexual 70-something ballet teacher about his long career for a dissertation on classical dance. As the questions probe deeper, they begin to focus upon the man's relationship with a ballerina, with whom he'd enjoyed a brief affair many years previously. Before too long it becomes obvious this romance is the focus of the interviewers' interest, and their inquiries soon take a detour into uncomfortable territory.

Each of the three characters attracts both sympathy and antipathy at various times, with the dialog crackling with wit, pathos and hostility as the story changes direction, tone and pace like a switchback ride. The narrative journeys through several different zones of the emotional spectrum until it eventually arrives at a satisfying conclusion. The three actors turn in excellent performances, and 'Match' provides sophisticated entertainment along with some thought-provoking insights about making art. Hopefully it will do well, and encourage producers to make more films of similar intelligence.

I'm not a movie reviewer. I probably couldn't tell the difference between a great performance and a bad one. I'm most certainly a bad judge of film, to give an example I love the movie Battleship. But I can't recall a movie that's ever left me with such a feeling after that I need the closure that comes from writing this. If that is any indication of how good this movie is so be it.

The story is as simple as a couple (Carla Gugino and Matthew Lillard) interviewing a ballet teacher (Patrick Stewart) with questions about his career. But, can we really ever talk about our lives without bringing up our life and the consequences it has for everyone? Especially so if the questions are driven by motive. In this context the movie starts to feel like the play it is from, so be prepared for intelligent dialog, scenes over analyzed, emotions too dark and complex. There are no explosions as in most American movies, except the ones of our characters.

If you're a fan of film festival movies, if you enjoy Broadway, if you prefer music from groups that are not mass market popular then this movie is for you. The characters are so real I felt like an intruder in their lives dealing with subjects so personal I had to avert my eyes to afford them a sense of privacy. All three actors, Stewart, Gugino, Lillard gave the best performances of their careers, which is bit of a surprise from Gugino and Lillard who I've enjoyed in the past but I regard as kind of one-note actors. You'd never know they had it in them which makes it a pleasure to watch.

Hurt people hurt people, and there is a lot of hurt and regret in this film. I left the theater wanting to give each of the characters the hug they sorely needed and deserved. Most emotionally drawn films cause you to cry when viewing them. This one made me cry long after, after I was able to piece together the lasting consequences of these strangers' encounter.

This is definitely a surprising film. If one knows what's going on beneath the surface, you wouldn't hesitate to try to guess how exactly the plot will turn out. But actually, the screenplay is quite detailed and it plays with its own conventions. Never does the film (aside from the ending) stray into exactly what you would expect. I don't think it's a flawless film, but it's definitely one that stands out in terms of never having seen this sort of movie plot play out like this, exactly. Stewart is absolutely fantastic. I could have definitely seen some awards traction had the film come out just at the end of 2014. Carla Gugino is also really strong actually, and proof that she was always a talent that deserved to make it bigger. Matthew Lillard has some impressive scenes, but he's also not nearly as strong throughout the whole film. Not a bad performance but i think that more could have been done with a better actor. Overall, really well done

I will divulge that I am a gay man of 66. Any resemblance to Patrick Stewart's character ends there, but I got his character completely. I was also so please not to see another movie about an old gay man coming out at 70.

This piece is very deep from my perspective. It is not a light glossing over of the core issues of aging, commitment, loss and imagined alternate realities. It is a hard look which is very touching without being overly melodramatic. Unlike Tobi, I don't cry easily, but I did at the end of this film.

Matthew Lillard's performance as the emotionally stunted cop was dead on. I come from a cop family, so I can testify to that. And Carla Gugino played the well-meaning cop's wife equally well. The pace of revealing secrets and emotional baggage was very well done in the screenplay. While I had an inkling of the plot line's end, it did not matter as much as seeing how it would play out with these engaging performances.

Not an action flick, this is a character and dialogue driven film containing lots of twists and surprises, and I found it quite engrossing as it offers something different. Instinctively, I felt it might have been a play, and after reading up on it, I saw that is was indeed, with playwright Stephen Belber ably adapting it to the screen and directing as well. Just to note, surprisingly, it contains very raw language and some sexual references in its content.

It's pretty much a 3 person movie, with fine performances from Patrick Stewart, Carla Gugino, and Matthew Lillard. Stewart portrays Tobi Powell, a retired world-class dancer and choreographer, who now teaches dance at Juilliard, in New York City. He's a complex bi-sexual man, who can be caustic, bombastic, and "swear like a sailor", yet be into knitting and cooking as well.

The ever vivacious Gugino plays Lisa Davis, who has traveled from Seattle with her policeman husband Mike (Lillard) to meet Tobi, and ostensibly interview him for her dissertation on the history of classical choreography. However, after a casual get-together at a local Greek restaurant, Tobi invites the couple to his apartment to continue the interview.

It's not long before Tobi senses there's a lot more at play here than a simple interview, and things begin to get rather intense and even sinister. Henceforth, they'll be a number of twists and turns that kept me guessing right up to the final scenes.

All in all, this movie got my attention and kept me engaged from start to finish with its surprises and intrigue, along with the excellent performances from all three leads here.

Through a relatively common search - a son finding his unknown father and demanding answers, this movies shows the importance of tackling the deep reasons behind our most harmful behaviors.

For the son, this movie shows the perspective of self doubt, denial of early pursuits of happiness such as having kids and becoming violent and disrespectful towards others.

For the wife, this meeting is the last chance to save her marriage and throughout the journey she finds herself feeling trapped and finds answers that let her feel vulnerable and in touch with her emotions to the point that she admits to herself to her long lost goals and the realization of the things that matter to her the most.

However,the most profound discovery is the one of the potential father, who finds out that there is more to life than solitude and the passion towards his profession. His liberation may be the biggest, because the solitude that he maintains, may also be his way of punishing himself for choosing dance over family. At the end his quest to join a simple party with his colleagues shows the most rewarding step towards self liberation.

Tobi (Patrick Stewart) is a dance professor at Julliard. Today he's very nervous, however, as he's expecting guests. Who they are, you don't know but he wants everything to be just right and he fusses over the details. Once the couple arrive, you learn that the woman is supposedly working on a dissertation about dance and the husband is just along for the ride. This portion at Tobi's favorite restaurant is VERY hard to take. Tobi is so superficial and flamboyant that he comes off as fake and annoying. I really was tempted to turn off the film...it was THAT bad.

Soon the scene changes to Tobi's apartment. While the lady (Carla Gugino) asks Tobi a lot of questions about dance, her husband (Matthew Lillard) begins asking questions--which is strange because he's just supposed to be along for the ride. What's stranger is that his questions are very invasive and he begins asking Tobi about his sex life. What is this all about....as it soon becomes obvious that there is no dissertation and the couple have ulterior motives. What? See the film.

I hated the first 20 minutes or so of the film and thought the writing and Stewart were just awful. But I stuck with it...and I am glad I did because through the course of the film, the bravado, the fakeness and the veneer begin to wear away and the movie becomes an interesting character study. In fact, it becomes a wonderful study of all three--and all three are marvelous. It also becomes quieter...more contemplative...and very emotionally charged--so much so that you might just want to have a few Kleenex handy. Rarely has a movie surprised me like this one did...and I am certainly glad I saw it. If you, too, would like to see it, the film is out this week on Netflix.

By the way, this is not a film for kids. There is a lot of talk about sexuality and it would probably bore younger viewers as well. But for someone who wants to see marvelous acting you cannot do much better than this.

"Absolutely I remember Gloria Renaldi" Tobi (Stewart) is a acclaimed dance instructor in New York City at Juilliard. He agrees to be interviewed at his apartment regarding the history of dance. When the two interviewers, Lisa (Gugino) and Mike (Lillard) show up things quickly turn tense when Mike mentions a name from Tobi's past. Secrets are revealed and lives are changed. This is a good movie, but it is not for everyone. First off, this is based off a Broadway play and the movie plays as one. For the most part there is one location and only 3 actors. This is just talking. The acting is amazing though and the movie is worth watching for that. Stewart seems like the perfect choice for this role and Gugino really plays well off of him. All that said this is again a movie for a select few. I liked it OK but wouldn't watch it again. Overall, if you like Broadway one act plays then I would check this out, if you aren't a fan of that type of entertainment then I would skip this one. I give it a B-.

"Not surprisingly, the disclosure of information about unsuspected paternity comes with potentially devastating effects." David L. Katz Match is essentially a three hander with Patrick Stewart as the epicenter of a talky drama that revels in the secrets and lies we all work with. Full disclosure: Stagey films are my nectar, where the spoken word, and never enough of it, is the drama. Although director Steven Belber adapts his play to this film, it receives criticism for being static—all the better, I say, to concentrate on what gives the most life to human interaction: words. Tobi (Patrick Stewart), an aging professor of dance at Julliard, agrees to an interview by a troubled married couple. Lisa and Mike (Carla Gugino and Matthew Lillard), ostensibly for her dissertation on dance history. As in most good drama, all is not as it seems. The ultimate goal is to flesh out Tobi's alleged paternity of Mike sometime in the '60's. Whether or not Tobi is the father (not certain despite cop Mike's devotion to certainty)is less important than the dissection of Tobi's solipsism, the release of Lisa's inhibitions, and Mike's coming to terms with the terms of Tobi's paternity and Lisa's happiness with their marriage. Although Match lacks the robust universality of Albee's Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf? it stands up well at getting behind the characters' facades and into their hearts. Match is a literate take on the matches we make in life, such as Lisa's apparent mismatch with Mike or Tobi's unwillingness to match himself with his alleged son from his birth. Along the way is a match with a profession, benign with Tobi, not so with Mike, and not so with Lisa on more than one level. As the characters admit their mistakes, writer Belber offers the possibility that life choices may frequently be non-negotiable and for the best. Who knows? We're all just doing our best given life's limitations. This is one heck of a drama, stage or film.

Patrick Stewart flies in this - for him - very quirky role, a somewhat over-the- top, deliberately isolated, and often rather silly and kinetic aging ballet teacher at Julliard.

Playing Tobias (Tobi) Powell, he's lived around the world and pretty much seen it all. He's been on a million adventures, slept with a million people, lived the prototypical and seemingly enviable life of a globe-trotting artiste - a ballet dancer who many years before blew out a muscle that kept him off the stage permanently. Now he teaches ballet at the world-renowned school of music, theater, and dance in New York City, Julliard. Settled into a quiet, out-of-the- way if funky ethnic neighborhood in Manhattan, Tobi's on the comfortable down slope of a long career in the arts.

Inserted into his comfortable world are two people who want to learn about his life and the history of ballet - at least, that's what Tobi is lead to believe initially. That's of course just the beginning of the story. Though the many spoilers give away the plot, I won't here. Better to discover it for yourself.

Carla Gugino and Matthew Lillard as the seemingly mismatched married couple Lisa and Mike Davis, are contrasting sides of the same coin. Mike is brutish, somewhat taciturn, forceful. Lisa is sweet, lovely, kind, thoughtful. They each in their own way lend powerfully to the story.

Lillard is surprising in his role - he often plays pretty silly, crazy, and ridiculous characters himself, but here he is the straight man. In this particular role, it's ideal. He does well.

Gugino is very good as the wife, crushed and withered by difficult circumstances and history between she and Mike. She comes across gently, carefully exposing her many wounds to Tobi who frequently meets her halfway in her moment of crisis.

But, ultimately, this is a story of redemption. In this respect all characters come back together in funny, heart-wrenching, and unexpected ways.

And what can be said of Patrick Stewart as Tobi? Wow. Just wow. He is really so very, very good. He's incredibly silly at times - saying crazy and really inappropriate things, but almost always hilariously. It's often due to nervousness but he's really kind of an ADD case, blurting out at times brilliantly absurd comments about love, lust, sex, and all kinds of people. He's really, really funny.

He's also incredibly poignant. He has a huge heart, is loving and sweet, ridiculous and silly, over-the-top and flamboyant. He encapsulates all that you expect an artist to be. I can't imagine why anyone wouldn't be enormously entertained by Stewart's performance in this film.

"Match" is an insightful film about the twists and turns hidden in the life we think we've lead, about the decisions we've made, about maybe what we've left behind or left undone. Well worth a watch.

-Match (2015) movie review: -Match is a limited release film that focuses entirely on an older dance instructor, played by Sir Patrick Stewart, who agrees to be interview by a younger couple, only to abruptly discover that they may have a very different agenda. (Nothing sinister, it's a drama, not a thriller) -Match is an example of an alright film that would be better, but really can't be because of its limitations.

-The story I thought was pretty good and deviant of cliché.

-The pace was probably too quick. With the story, it felt like a longer TV episode.

-The acting was good. Patrick Stewart did a good job, but other than learning how to dance, nothing outside of his skill set. Carla Gugino did well, but nothing beyond her usual roles. I was most impressed by Matthew Lillard, (live action Shaggy) who was really compelling and impressive.

-The characters were deep and there was a lot to either like or dislike. However there is no character that you really feel good liking.

-The music is forgettable. However playing one song twice worked in this.

-The thing I either really liked or really did not like was that the entire film takes place in like a day, and it is right to the point. It is 90 minutes of the main story.

-Match is rated-R for some language, although not heavy, and an R amount of sexual dialogue. By R standards it is not that bad though.

-Match is well acted, compelling, and has a well written story, but lacks in being anything more because of its runtime and lack of anything but the story. I will say I enjoyed it, but it is only worth watching on Netflix/Redbox. 7/10.

-Did you see Match? What did you think? Leave a comment or a like if this review helped and make sure to stay tuned for my review of The Wedding Ringer soon!

The performance Stewart turns in...if it was anyone but him, would have been a performance talked about for years. It is, quite simply, one of the most nuanced performances from an actor I have seen in years. That alone is reason to give this movie a chance. Lillard turns the best performance I have seen from him outside of a turn on Law and Order that stuck with me.

The dialogue is excellent. This isn't a movie you want to sit down with a phone in your lap and "sortta" watch. You will want to sit down and revel in it. My only negative critique is that a couple of the scenes did carry on too long, but that may have been the director's way of creating discomfort.

Match is a three person play that takes place in the NY apartment of Toby Powell, a bisexual ballet instructor. Toby has traveled the world and is now teaching in NY. He knits and saves his finger nails in a glass jar. Lisa (Carla Gugino) travels from Seattle to interview the quirky Toby on the history of the industry from the 1960's. Along with her is her husband Mike (Matthew Lillard) who records the conversation. During the interview process, things open up, and Mike slowly becomes more hostile and pointed in his questions as we quickly realize there is something else going on.

This is a well acted drama. Carla reminded me of a young Sally Field. The production attempts to become a tear jerker at the end, but I thought it fell a bit short in that regard.

Guide: F-bombs. No sex or nudity.

Tobi Powell (Patrick Stewart) is a private effeminate Juilliard dance professor with a long distinguished career. He gets interviewed by married couple Lisa (Carla Gugino) and Mike Davis (Matthew Lillard). They eventually reveal the true motive of their visit. They believe that Tobi is Mike's biological father.

Patrick Stewart is a well-established actor of the highest order. He can act circles around anybody. Gugino is a nice partner in this exercise. Lillard, known for playing goofballs, has some solid anger here. I would have liked for the three leads to stay together in that apartment and stew in the conflict longer. It boils over too quickly and Lillard leaves the room for too long. Stewart and Gugino play around for awhile. In the end, Stewart is great but that's not unexpected.

Wow. I cannot believe a man of Patrick Stewart's talent and experience could present a character as boring, ugly, and bizarrely unbelievable at this stage of his career. Even if his director begged him to perform this poorly I cannot believe he would do so. I am sorry. But, do not waste even five minutes on this movie.

Matthew Lilliard, as the potential son, created a character that was so unreal that no one should be asked to suspend disbelief. His character is not a cop. There is a sense of un-realness to this performance. There is no believable reason for his character to be such a bore. This could be a career ending performance.

I honestly cannot believe anyone put money forward to produce this, one of the worst movies I have seen in years.

So this is genius. Pure genius. Also it's not a movie it's a play. Never mind that Patrick Stewart's accent changes throughout the movie. Never mind Patrick Stewart gives bombast a new definition. Never mind that zero of the interminable unending dialog is realistic. It does have a few glimmers of comedy but they die smothered under a pile of shouting Patrick Stewart. But this is genius. Pure gay cinema genius. I still have 50 minutes left and I swear I have no idea where this is heading.

Tour de force performance from Patrick Stewart. Unfortunately his role is not really captivating. The young man is more interesting. Ultimately as a film it falls short. Maybe it worked on stage. In some aspects I found Toby's character repulsive.