Matching Jack

Plot

A woman struggles with her son's illness and her husband's infidelity, but, after a chance encounter with an Irish sailor and his son, her life is turned upside down in a love story that defies explanation and breaks all the rules.

Release Year: 2010

Rating: 6.2/10 (360 voted)

Director:
Nadia Tass

Stars: Jacinda Barrett, Richard Roxburgh, Tom Russell

Storyline
A woman struggles with her son's illness and her husband's infidelity, but, after a chance encounter with an Irish sailor and his son, her life is turned upside down in a love story that defies explanation and breaks all the rules.

Writers: Lynne Renew, Lynne Renew

Cast:

Jacinda Barrett
–

Marissa

Richard Roxburgh
–

David

Tom Russell
–

Jack

James Nesbitt
–

Connor

Kodi Smit-McPhee
–

Finn

Yvonne Strahovski
–

Veronica

Colin Friels
–

Professor Nelson

Julia Blake
–

Cleo

Marg Downey
–

Nurse Celia

Daniela Farinacci
–

Ange

Alexandra Schepisi
–

Janice

Nicole Gulasekharam
–

Kerry

Krista Vendy
–

Angela

Jane Allsop
–

Marianne

Jacinta Stapleton
–

Madeline

Details

Official Website:
Official site |

Release Date: 19 August 2010

Filming Locations: Melbourne, Victoria, Australia

Gross: AUD 807,621
(Australia)
(21 September 2010)

Did You Know?

Trivia:

In the opening scene magician Sue-Anne Webster saws her assistant in half with a hand saw. This illusion had to be modified to suit the film from the chainsaw she normally uses as it would have been too intense for a children's birthday party.

User Review

a shamelessly manipulative tear jerker of the first order

Rating: 7/10

We've had a few dramas that deal with terminal cancer patients making
the most of their limited time, including Hawks with Timothy Dalton and
Anthony Edwards, and the recent The Bucket List, with Morgan Freeman
and Jack Nicholson having the time of their lives. But when a film
deals with young kids dying of leukemia then it becomes especially
moving and heart wrenching. And that's what we get with Matching Jack,
the first film in over a decade from the film making team of Nadia Tass
and David Parker (Malcolm, The Big Steal, etc).

The pair have astute commercial sensibilities, and their films have
picked up numerous awards along the way. For most of the past decade
Tass has been working on television dramas like Child Star: The Shirley
Temple Story, etc. Tass returns to feature film with this moving drama
about a mother's desperate struggle to save her son.

When previously healthy Jack Hagen (Tom Russell) falls ill and is
diagnosed with leukemia, he ends up sharing a hospital ward with Finn
(Kodi Smit-McPhee). Finn's widowed father Connor (James Nesbitt) is
eternally optimistic and up beat despite his son's illness. While
waiting to find news of a marrow donor who could potentially save Jack,
Marissa (Jacinda Barrett) discovers her husband's infidelity.
Desperately she tracks down his former illicit lovers in the hope that
one of his illegitimate offspring may be the match Jack needs. A strong
friendship develops between the two boys, while Connor also comes to
respect Marissa's strength and resilience.

What could have been an overly saccharine film is given large
injections of warmth and humour. Working from a script penned by Parker
and first time writer Lynne Renew, Tass deftly mixes pathos and tears
with generous dollops of winning humour. There are a few bits that
stretch credulity, such as Connor giving the two boys a ride down a
hospital corridor on a bed transformed into a makeshift boat, and the
boys going on a secret outing to Luna Park.

The film has been beautifully acted by the solid cast. Irish import
Nesbitt is very good as Connor, and gives a sensitive, nuanced
performance. Barrett gives a heartfelt performance as Jack's distraught
mother. Richard Roxburgh is good as the sleazy David. While the adult
performers are all good, it is the two young boys who give the movie
its heart and soul and solid emotional punch. Russell (Last Ride, etc)
is very good as Jack, while the consistently excellent Smit-McPhee (The
Road, Romulus My Father, etc) is superb and continues to impress.

Matching Jack is a shamelessly manipulative tear jerker of the first
order, and cinemas should hand out boxes of tissues with every ticket
sold.