Wimbledon
Matinee with Snacks
The preview makes Wimbledon look like another witty Working Title
romantic comedy, peppered with a few famous faces, dry self
deprecation, stretched across a tennis framing device. Point of
fact, this is a very witty movie about a man finding himself and
more, partially with the assistance of the love of a woman, but
mostly through really committing himself to follow his passions.
It's also about him doing all this at tennis' biggest (or most
famous, anyway) competition. And it's funny.
Paul Bettany you might recall from such films as A Beautiful Mind and
Master and Commander; freed from Russell Crowes' sidekickery, he is
charming, engaging, dynamic, funny - and who knew he could be so
completely sexy? It came as a surprise to us as well. He is
appealing in his modest resignation and in his triumphant moments
equally. Good thing, seeing as he's in nearly every frame of the
film, apparently playing his own tennis in long, multi-lob shots. I
don't know if the games are real or computer-assisted, but I
completely bought them. The story centers so squarely on him, it's
almost an intrusion when they introduce Kirsten Dunst. Almost.
Bettany's career has already peaked, and while he has made it to
Wimbledon, he is a charming relic, who is recognizable and pitiable
at once. He knows this, his family knows this, the crowds know this.
He just wants to disappear into his new life as a once-famous person
gracefully and peacefully. Naturally, something will happen to
disrupt this plan.
A word on tennis: I hate it. The idea of a movie about Wimbledon,
the epicenter of white-clad yahoos swatting yellow balls, would
normally be an excruciating affair - but I really loved Wimbledon. I
was at the edge of my seat during the matches, nibbling my nails
nervously. The exciting camera work didn't hurt, as well as the dips
into Bettany's brain when he was playing, the pans of the crowd with
their overwhelming sense of pressure, the ball-following camera, all
of it. Very cool.
Nubile athlete Dunst is an interesting foil for Bettany. She's not
Hollywood stunning that she's unapproachable, and not so brassy
American that she's off-putting. He seems much more mature than she
does, in years and in experience, and as an actor and as a character,
but the contrast works, considering their mutual benefits to each
other. If you saw Bring It On, you know she's got the endurance and
the comedy chops to survive Working Title country.
It's a more involved journey for Bettany than just meeting a girl or
playing some tennis, and by the end you just want to follow everyone
to wherever life takes them. It should not be pigeonholed as a chick
flick, either - it's really a man's story (that girls can love too).
Go see it.
========== X-RAMR-ID: 38702 X-Language: en X-RT-ReviewID: 1323293 X-RT-TitleID: 1136386 X-RT-SourceID: 755 X-RT-AuthorID: 3661 X-RT-RatingText: 4.5/5
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