WIMBLEDON

stars kirsten dunst, paul bettany, sam neil
4/5

from the writers of 'love actually', and 'bridget jones' diary' comes another romantic comedy that uses the game of tennis to explore the highs and lows of the tournament that is life, love, and of course, wimbledon. the story follows peter colt (bettany) in his last wimbledon appearance after a string of losses, he is only one game away from disappearing completely from the tennis scene.

in comes new-comer lizzie bradbury (dunst), an american tennis player who is out to win. as the two become more involved, it seems colt's performance on the court improves significantly, so much so that he ends up getting into the finals against jake hammel, an arrogant up-and-coming young tennis player. on the flip side though, bradbury's performance starts to slack and her father/coach (neil) is not happy.

both bettany and dunst give authentic performances, and script-wise, the film is very raw and unpolished - improvised even. i don't know if this was intentional, but it works superbly, especially with the backdrop of england's bleak (unpolished, perhaps?) buildings, weather, and tennis courts. other cast members such as jon favreau (daredevil) and james mcavoy (band of brothers) have smaller roles but play them out perfectly.

directing and editing-wise, this film departs from the usual styles adopted by romantic comedies. while there are of course elements of the over-the-shoulder kind of shots, "wimbledon" uses fast-paced directing, and irreverent camera angles that give the film a unique stylistic quality.

"wimbledon" isn't your average romantic comedy - it's got balls.