Wimbledon

UK Release: 24th September 2004

Watched on DVD: Sunday 17th June 2012

Rating: 12A

Genre: Comedy, Romance, Sport

Runtime: 1hr 38mins

Tagline: She's the golden girl. He's the longshot. It's a match made in...

IMDb Plot Synopsis: A pro tennis player has lost his ambition and has fallen in rank to 119. Fortunately for him, he meets a young player on the women's circuit who helps him recapture his focus for Wimbledon.

My Review: I had that itch again. Every year about this time I get a little craving for this film and this year I decided to satisfy it. I hardly know why since I’m not a fan of actual Wimbledon but this film sets the summer off nicely. It’s far less cheesy than you would expect and is shot surprisingly well with many interesting slow motion effects used to make tennis more exciting to people like me. And there’s far more than just tennis as this is also a great British rom-com, albeit with an american as one of the leads. But the cultural differences only add to the humour and with Paul Bettany as the other half of the romance things were never going to be cliche as he is exactly known for his romantic roles! He brings some integrity and realism to the film and there is a really sweet unlikely chemistry between them with is compelling until the very end. 

It’s basically a fantastic British drama with some thrilling tennis matches thrown in, between the growing romance - just what you need between the real Wimbledon matches!

Score: 7.5/10