Thursday, September 16, 2004
The happy couple first meet when he walks in on her showering.
By CHRISTY LEMIRE
AP ENTERTAINMENT WRITER
A wise philosopher once said, "Love means never having to say you're sorry." Or maybe that was Ali MacGraw.
In "Wimbledon," Kirsten Dunst says, "Love means nothing in tennis -- zero." Not quite as memorable a line, but that's what poses for philosophy in this by-the-numbers romantic comedy set in the tennis world.
The ever-effervescent Dunst and co-star Paul Bettany are sufficiently likable together, and the banter often has the deft, swift pacing of a championship match -- though it usually involves Bettany and someone else, like Nikolaj Coster-Waldau, who plays his practice partner, or James McAvoy, who plays his brother.
Previously a supporting figure in films including "A Knight's Tale," "A Beautiful Mind" and "Master and Commander: The Far Side of the World," Bettany proves himself an engaging leading man -- and upstages the top-billed Dunst in the process.
Bettany plays fading tennis star Peter Colt, who was ranked 11th in the world nearly a decade ago but now has slipped to No. 119. He's on the verge of retiring and taking a job as a tennis instructor at a posh English club, but first he must compete as a wild card in his final fortnight.
Too cute
In a painfully cute scene, he runs into Lizzie Bradbury (Dunst) -- a bad-girl American at her first Wimbledon -- when he walks in on her shower after a mix-up at the hotel front desk. Unbelievably, not only is Lizzie not embarrassed about being caught in the nude, she actually finds herself flirting with him.
Director Richard Loncraine's movie only truly gets going once match play begins.
Like a female John McEnroe (though McEnroe himself shows up as an announcer alongside Chris Evert), Lizzie shrilly challenges every bad call. And Peter finds himself performing better than anyone figured -- himself included -- thanks to the inspiration he derives from this unexpected relationship. Even Peter's agent (Jon Favreau, drawing laughs despite playing a clich & eacute;) wants him back.
But Lizzie's pushy stage father (Sam Neill) wants her to stay away from Peter and stay focused on the tournament. Predictably, the script from Adam Brooks and husband-and-wife team Jennifer Flackett and Mark Levin inserts the dad as an obstacle to the budding romance (he'll later have a reluctant change of heart, natch), along with cocky American Jake Hammond (Austin Nichols), who competes with Peter on and off the court for Lizzie's attention.
British humor
"Wimbledon" comes from the producers of "Four Weddings and a Funeral," "Notting Hill," "Bridget Jones's Diary" and the upcoming sequel "Bridget Jones: The Edge of Reason," so it has a tried-and-true, wry sense of British humor.
It was shot during Wimbledon last year, which gives the film a sense of realism and immediacy. It also helps that the long, lean Bettany looks like a tennis pro, even though he'd never really played the game before. And Bettany plays his character with an easy balance of self-deprecating charm and newfound swagger.
Some of the matches are staged spectacularly (with the help of CGI), especially the men's final, which features -- you guessed it -- our hero, Peter, vs. the insufferable Jake. We could have done without repeated use of the ball-cam effect, though, in which the camera seems to swoop down like a searing serve and smack the grass with a thwack.
We also could have done without the feel-good epilogue, since the movie's ending is appropriately happy. It's the cinematic equivalent of smashing the ball for a put-away when a graceful passing shot would have been just fine.