WIMBLEDON (2004) 2 1/2 stars out of 4. Starring Kirsten Dunst, Paul Bettany, Sam
Neill, Jon Favreau, Bernard Hill, Eleanor Bron, Nikolaj Coster-Waldau and Austin
Nichols. Written by Adam Brooks and Jennifer Flackett & Mark Levin. Directed by
Richard Loncraine. Rated PG-13. Running time: Approx: 105 mins.
The difficulty in making a sports movie is avoiding the clichés.
Wimbledon, however, chooses to celebrate and embrace them. In doing so, the
movie creates an uncomfortable doubles partnership: love story and underdog
Rocky overachiever.
Despite fancy camera tricks and some interesting interior monologues, the two
don't really mesh. It's like Bobby Riggs and Billie Jean King trying to work as a team.
Wimbledon is a very pretty movie, with two personable and good-looking actors.
Unfortunately, a lot of implausible plot points are presented that are rather difficult
to believe.
Plus director Richard Loncriane and his trio of screenwriters work hard to strike a
balance between the love story and the competition on the court. In doing so both
get short shrifted.
Paul Bettany as Peter Colt and Kirsten Dunst as Lizzie Bradbury make an attractive
couple. Yet it is hard to fathom their attraction. He's a marginal player on the tour,
ranked 111th in the world, while she is in the top echelon of women players.
She, through the incessant pushing of her father, is driven. He's set on retiring from
the tour after his last match at Wimbledon.
They meet cute when he accidentally is given the key to her hotel suite and walks in
on her in the shower. Later they banter on the practice courts and the next thing
you know they're hopping into bed.
Ah, if only sex could be that simple in real life.
Inspired, Peter begins winning, upsetting ranked players as he advances. The only
thing missing is the "Theme from Rocky," and Peter shouting, "Yo, Adrian!"
Yet despite all this nonsense, Wimbledon is a crowd pleaser, simply because Bettany
and Dunst are so darn sincere and attractive.
If you can't guess the outcome, then you should be banished from the multiplex.
Where the film does peak are during those sequences in which Loncriane takes you
into Peter's mind during matches, showing his inner battle to remain focused and
concentrate.
The photography during the tennis sequences is exciting, except for too many
close-ups.
A couple of good actors are wasted in thankless roles, specifically Sam Neill as
Lizzie's overprotective father and Jon Favreau, who provides some lame, cliched
comic relief as Peter's agent.
Shown to better advantage is Bernard Hill as Peter's father.
Wimbledon will not make it to the finals; heck, it will have a hard time reaching the
quarterfinals.
But some tennis enthusiasts may find it interesting, while fans of Bettany and Dunst
will enjoy looking at the eye candy.
Bob Bloom is the film critic at the Journal and Courier in Lafayette, Ind. He can be
reached by e-mail at bbloom@journalandcourier.com or at bob@bloomink.com.
Bloom's reviews also can be found at the Journal and Courier Web site:
www.jconline.com
Other reviews by Bloom can be found at the Rottentomatoes Web site:
www.rottentomatoes.com or at the Internet Movie Database Web site:
www.imdb.com/M/reviews_by?Bob+Bloom
========== X-RAMR-ID: 38663 X-Language: en X-RT-ReviewID: 1321766 X-RT-TitleID: 1136386 X-RT-SourceID: 872 X-RT-AuthorID: 1363 X-RT-RatingText: 2.5/4
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