Wimbledon
Review by Clint Morris
 Like
a pizza slice that hasn't been baked long enough, Wimbledon
is undercooked, sure, but you can still sink your teeth into
it.
Richard Loncraine's film is pretty much every other romantic
comedy you've seen over the last decade rolled up in a soft
new tortilla bun.
In other words, the tennis setting is the only new ingredient
to this mix.
Bettany and Dunst play championship tennis professionals
who fall smack-bang into bed upon meeting. But their relationship
is a far from rocky one.
Though Peter Colt's (Bettany) game starts to turn for the
better – thanks to the tryst – American Lizzie Bradbury's
domineering father (Sam Neill) is determined to see the two
go their separate ways. After all, you can't be romantically
involved with someone and win a tennis championship at the
same time, can you?
This is Bettany's movie. He really does shine in a few spots.
We really get to know Peter Colt, thanks to Bettany's serious
performance. We get in his head, a look at life at his homestead
and, of course, in his bed. And boy, it seems Bettany did
actually learn how to hit a few Slazengers too.
The rotten element of the movie is the gorgeous, but terribly
miscast Kirsten Dunst. She's as one-dimensional as a piece
of newspaper in this. But most of all, there's no real reason
for Colt and Bradbury to get involved – they're opposites
who don't seem to share much in common at all.
In fact, you're waiting for Lizzie to drop the bombshell
that she's merely taking the guy (excuse the pun) for a ride,
somewhere towards the end. Alas, that doesn't happen –
this is apparently a real-deal romance. Yeah…whatever.
Whilst not a winning moment for British film, Wimbledon
is still a reasonably enjoyable film made all the more so
thanks to the capable Bettany and some well-shot Tennis action.
3 out of 5
Wimbledon
Australian release: Thursday September 30th
Cast: Paul Bettany, Kirsten Dunst, Jon Favreau, Eleanor
Bron, Nikolaj Coster-Waldau.
Director: Richard Loncraine.
Website: Click
here.
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