Review of Wimbledon (2004) by Cecilia C — 13 Mar 2009

Off the bat (or, in this case, racket) I will state that I am biased concerning this film. It is set in London (my second favorite city ? after Chicago), it involves tennis (one of my favorite sports to watch ? and play if I had any ability), and it revolves around the Wimbledon Championships that I, for as long as I can remember, have watched on TV and dreamed of attending one day.

Trying my best to ignore those three things and pretend this film was set amongst soccer players in Brazil, I can say I still would have enjoyed it. It?s a light, uplifting love story that should appeal to all.

Kirsten Dunst and Paul Bettany are a solid match (tennis pun, intended), mostly because they look so darn good together. Also, the way the writing sets (another intended pun) up the characters, you find yourself (well, at least I did) rooting them on right until the end credits.

Unlike many romantic comedies, the relationship between the two protagonists is quite believable and real, from their running away and escaping the madness of the Championships to the fight they have toward the end of the movie.

I bought into the reasons these two characters were together like I usually do not in other romantic comedies. And, none of ?those? reasons have anything to do with London, tennis or Wimbledon. Add those three things into the mix and this film simply becomes magic for me.

Please allow me to use my final tennis pun here: I love-d this movie.