Barely making it over the net
Paul Bettany, finally given a starring role after delivering memorable supporting
turns in A Beautiful Mind and Master and Commander, is Peter Colt,
an English tennis pro who’s never reached his full potential. Once ranked 11th
in the world, he’s fallen to 119th but has somehow weaseled his way into the
Wimbledon tournament as a wild-card entry. Knowing that his days on the court
are numbered, he decides to retire after this competition, but the press starts
to urge him to reconsider as he begins to score one upset after another against
far better opponents and seems headed toward the final match. What could account
for this miraculous transformation from journeyman player to potential champion,
you might ask? The answer is love, in the form of American spitfire Lizzie Bradbury
(Kirsten Dunst), an up-and-coming player whose aggressive style on the court
mirrors her approach to life off it.
It’s bad enough that we’re subjected to yet another “underdog triumphs because
of love” scenario, but writers Adam Brooks, Jennifer Flackett, and Mark Levin
also throw at us numerous underdeveloped subplots and saddle the fine cast with
not just stereotypes but thinly rendered ones at that. Colt’s parents (Bernard
Hill and Eleanor Bron) are having marital woes, his brother (James McAvoy) is
focused on cashing in, and Lizzie’s ex-beau (Austin Nichols) begins to hound
Colt — and wouldn’t you know it, these two rivals end up facing each other on
the court. Arghhh! All of these storylines are rendered in shorthand, as are
the characters, with the most aggravating example that of Bradbury’s father,
Dennis (Sam Neill), who is a — surprise, surprise! — overprotective dad who
wants his daughter to avoid all distractions and succeed on the court.
In the end, Wimbledon proves to be not so much a bad film as a lazy
one, an entertainment content to glide by without breaking a sweat. Of course,
as any good coach will tell you, this method of execution ensures defeat.
Other movies playing this week. . .
Before Sunset [R]Nine years after Jesse (Ethan Hawke) and Celine
(Julie Delpy) first met, they run into each other on the French leg of Jesse’s
book tour. Parkway Pointe
Cellular [PG-13] A young man (Chris Evans) gets a call from a woman
(Kim Basinger) who claims she was kidnapped, fears she’ll be killed, and doesn’t
know where she is. And his battery may die! ShowPlace West, ShowPlace East
A Cinderella Story [PG] Routinely mistreated by her stepmother, Sam
Martin (Hilary Duff) looks forward to meeting her Internet beau at a Halloween
dance. White Oaks
Collateral [R] Tom Cruise is a hired killer who uses a cab to get from
one hit to another; Jamie Foxx is the cab driver who slowly begins to realize
what is going on. ShowPlace West
Exorcist: The Beginning [R] The original movie hinted at a backstory,
and this prequel details the first encounter of Father Merrin (Stellan Skarsgård)
with the demon Pazuzu in Africa after World War II. ShowPlace East
First Daughter [PG] The president (Michael Keaton) accedes to his daughter’s
request to attend college without Secret Service protection. On the sly, he
assigns an agent. Parkway Pointe, ShowPlace East
The Forgotten [PG-13] When a single mother (Julianne Moore) loses her
8-year-old son in an airplane crash, she seeks out psychiatric help in order
to cope with her grief. Instead, she’s told her son never existed. ShowPlace
West, ShowPlace East
Hero [PG-13] Zhang Yimou’s award-winning and Oscar-nominated period
epic stars Jet Li as an assassin who seeks revenge against the emperor who murdered
his family. ShowPlace West
I, Robot [PG-13] Set in the year 2035, Chicago police detective Del
Spooner (Will Smith) investigates a murder that may have been committed by a
robot. White Oaks
The Manchurian Candidate [R] Director Jonathan Demme remakes and updates
the classic 1960s political thriller about a soldier (Denzel Washington) who
was captured by the enemy in the Korean War (this time it’s the Gulf War) and
brainwashed to be used later as a pawn. Liev Schreiber is one of his military
comrades who is moving up politically; Meryl Streep plays Schreiber’s ambitious
mother. Parkway Pointe
Maria Full of Grace [R] A Colombian girl agrees to smuggle drugs into
the U.S. in order to escape a life of poverty. Parkway Pointe
Mr. 3000 [PG-13] Comedian Bernie Mac plays a retired baseball star,
nicknamed “Mr. 3000,” who finds out he didn’t quite reach 3,000 hits. At age
47, he tries to reach that goal. ShowPlace West, ShowPlace East
Napoleon Dynamite [PG] The title character is an odd Idaho teenager
whose great loves are dancing and the ways of the ninja. Parkway Pointe
The Notebook [PG-13]Two young lovers from different backgrounds
are separated when the U.S. enters World War II. Seven years later, she is engaged
to a soldier when she discovers the whereabouts of her first true love.Parkway
Pointe
The Princess Diaries 2: Royal Engagement [G] Princess Mia (Anne Hathaway)
is primed for an arranged marriage to a English suitor. Parkway Pointe, ShowPlace
East
Resident Evil: Apocalypse [R] Alice (Milla Jovovich) must escape from
a city of the dead before the killer Nemesis gets her. ShowPlace West, ShowPlace
East
Shrek 2 [PG] Princess Fiona’s parents invite her and Shrek to dinner
to celebrate her marriage, not realizing that the newlyweds are green ogres.
White Oaks
Sky Captain and the World of Tomorrow [PG] The world’s top scientists
start disappearing as giant flying robots descend on New York City in 1939.
Reporter Polly Perkins (Gwyneth Paltrow) teams up with ace pilot Joe “Sky Captain”
Sullivan (Jude Law) to stop the mad man behind this calamity.
ShowPlace West, ShowPlace East
The Terminal [PG-13] Tom Hanks stars in this Steven Spielberg romantic
comedy as an Eastern European immigrant who is confined to an American airport
after his country is ravaged by war. Catherine Zeta-Jones co-stars. White Oaks
Wimbledon [PG-13] A pro tennis player [Paul Bettany] meets a young
player on the women’s circuit [Kristen Dunst] who helps him regain his focus
for Wimbleton. ShowPlace West
Without a Paddle [PG-13] Three friends go canoeing in Washington state,
hoping to find the money stolen by D.B. Cooper, who parachuted over the area
in 1971. Burt Reynolds, in what must be the casting gimmick of the year, appears
in a supporting role as a crazy mountain man. ShowPlace West
This article appears in Sep 23-29, 2004.
