It's hard to tell which Woody Allen film will stand out as the next Annie Hall since no matter what film Allen makes, there is always some critic who will state that Allen has returned to form. I remember all the hub-bub about Melinda and Melinda being the next Crimes & Misdemeanors. Hype like that lends itself to disappointment. So what to make of the hype that Match Point is the first true contender for best Woody Allen film since Annie Hall or Mighty Aphrodite or Sweet & Lowdown or whatever film you think was Woody Allen's latest "return to form." This time, believe it.

In some ways, this film is classic Woody Allen. Intellectually elite individuals walking down city streets, exchanging banter the way you wish you and your friends exchanged banter. A protagonist that's prone to infidelity. A sultry, seductive female lead that makes our protagonist risk everything just to bed her. Short of a prostitute, it has all the elements one would expect from a Woody Allen film. There's no doubt that when our hero, played by Jonathan Rhys Meyers, tries to back track his way out of being exposed as an adulterous pig, it's Woody's words he's using. You could imagine Woody sitting there, scrambling for a believable alibi, downright lying, just to get out of an incriminating position. However Rhys Meyers does something so remarkably original, you wonder why no one thought of it sooner. He decides to play the character not as a Woody Allen caricature but as his own man. He single-handedly redefines what neuroses can look like. Woody Allen, meanwhile, redefines himself as a director of thrillers, creating a film as taut and powerful as The Talented Mr. Ripley or The Vanishing. A Woody Allen thriller? Who would have thunk it? And who would have thunk it would be as gut wrenching, heart pounding intense as it ends up being? I can only hope that this is the new "form" that all other movies will strive to be.

How unfortunate though that every single film Woody Allen has made in the past 16 years has been called "a return to form." Now like the boy who cried wolf, Match Point will have to sit and wait until people realize the boy isn't lying this time around.

-Nikita Burdein