Peter Colt (Paul Bettany) was once ranked 11th in the tennis world back in the 90's. Now with the prime of his life behind him, ranked number 119, Peter decides to throw in the towel and play his last ever Wimbledon tournament before gracefully bowing out of the gentleman's sport for good and going to work at a tennis club tending to clucky old ladies. All he wants is to go out in style, keep his dignity and try not to cock up too badly. That is, until he meets American tennis sweet-heart Lizzie Bradbury (Kirsten Dunst). Lizzie is the tennis world's new golden girl, and looks to have Wimbledon in the bag... that is until Peter proves a costly distraction. They instantly take a liking to one another, and their relationship moves pretty quickly into the bedroom. Her side-tracked mind becomes apparent to her ambitious father (Sam Neill) who can feel his daughter's priorities taking a turn. Meanwhile, Lizzie is improving Peter's game by acting as his 'lucky charm'. Now Peter has to ask himself.... can the long-shot win the tournament?
Paul Bettany is a gorgeous leading man, pulling out all the charms and making himself impossible not to like. Be sure to keep an eye out for Bettany, who is more used to taking the back-seat supporting role in films (A knights tale, a beautiful mind etc...) but after Wimbledon, he has proven himself a more than capable and lovable leading-man.
Kirsten delivers a some-what aggressive performance as Lizzie. Sure she's a head-strong American, but couldn't Dunst have made her a likable head-strong American? It's not a bad performance, just a little 'off' at times, not quite hitting the mark she should have aimed for in this romantic comedy.
Wimbledon is filled with quick wit, dry English humor, fantastic (although computer-generated) tennis matches and a stand-out leading man. What's not to like? It's a great film for a good laugh and is a definite pleaser. Game-set-match!
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