Wimbledon

Lets be honest now. There's a part in all of us, no matter how small, that is dying to see Wimbledon. Working Title bringing together Paul Bettany and Kirsten Dunst, with a dash of tennis and more than a dash of unessecary nudity? How bad could it be? Well, it could have been awful. The idea sounds foolproof, but the trailers showed a disturbingly ridiculous romantic direction for the film, and after seeing them, suddenly I wasn't quite so excited. But I decided to see it anyway, and though the rom-com didn't do anything new, apart from filming tennis in a suitably cinematic way, it was still plenty of predictable fun.

But then, with two such charming leads, how could it not have been? Bettany, infuriatingly billed second on all the posters despite having a voice-over throughout the film, is as brilliant as ever and suited to his role. Dunst is a more questionable casting but together they make a nice couple. The supporting cast amble through lazily but are decent enough, although Jon Favreau is utterly wasted as Bettany's manager.

Director Richard Loncraine takes a decent shot (no pun intended) at filming the tennis action, and although it can be tiring on the eyes, it's fun to watch and some of the best tennis I've ever seen in the cinema. Bettany is convincing enough as a tennis player, although again, Dunst is more questionable. Despite all the talk, she is yet to prove herself as a real actress, with one exception - her wonderful performance in Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind.


I had been planning on writing a slightly longer review for Wimbledon, but I find my mind has gone blank. Wimbledon is fun, with flashes of inspiration at times and full of predictable feel-good humour. But it never realises its full potential, and thus is nowhere near as much fun as it should have been. Worth seeing if you've got nothing better to do, but ultimately, it's the definition of the word 'meh'.

*** out of 5.