... The first of these films was Wimbledon – the latest release from Working Title, who can always be relied upon to give you a good film. In fact, many of my favourite films are from Working Title – My Beautiful Laundrette, Wish You Were Here, Four Weddings and a Funeral, Notting Hill, Bridget ... Read review
At the outset of Wimbledon 2004, The Championships appeared to be one of the most open and ... more
unpredictable for many years. In the Gentlemen's Singles event, defending champion, Roger Federer, and 2002 winner, Lleyton Hewitt, would have been hoping to add...
Advantages: Entertaining, well acted, keeps your attention Disadvantages: Could have been a bit longer
...first of these films was Wimbledon – the latest release from Working Title, who can always be relied upon to give you a good film. In fact, many of my favourite films are from Working Title – My Beautiful Laundrette, Wish You Were Here, Four Weddings and a Funeral, Notting Hill, Bridget Jones’s Diary.
Wimbledon is another really good film from them. Although you could accuse it of being formulaic and predictable, it’s also entertaining, ... ...film is set around the Wimbledon tennis championships where American star Lizzie Bradbury is expected to do very well. On the other hand, British player Peter Colt is 31 and is expected to be knocked out early on, in which is due to be his last tournament before he retires.
The tournament provides an exciting backdrop for their budding romance. Will their unlikely love affair ever prosper? Will it affect their play? Will either of ... more
For my birthday, I decided to eat out at my favourite Mexican restaurant and to go to the cinema to see two films. The first of these films was Wimbledon – the latest release from Working Title, who can always be relied upon to give you a good film. In fact, many of my favourite films are from Working Title – My Beautiful Laundrette, Wish You Were Here, Four Weddings and a Funeral, Notting Hill, Bridget Jones’s Diary.
Wimbledon is another really good film from them. Although you could accuse it of being formulaic and predictable, it’s also entertaining, highly enjoyable and a feel good movie.
The film is set around the Wimbledon tennis championships where American star Lizzie Bradbury is expected to do very well. On the other hand, British player Peter Colt is 31 and is expected to be knocked out early on, in which is due to be his last tournament before he retires.
The tournament provides an exciting backdrop for their budding romance. Will their unlikely love affair ever prosper? Will it affect their play? Will either of them – or both of them – become Wimbledon champions?
The stars of the film are Paul Bettany as Peter and Kirsten Dunst as Lizzie. Paul is an all round good bloke by the looks of it and I really like him. I saw him interviewed on Jonathon Ross and he came across as very unpretentious, witty and funny. Similarly, Peter Colt is a real sweetie. He has a bit of the Hugh Grants about him – a bit bumbling at times, very English – but with an added depth, an added vulnerability. By the end of the film, I would happily have swung a racket in exchange for a quick snog from him!
Kirsten Dunst is not an actress I particularly like, but she came across really well in Wimbledon. Okay, so the role of an American tennis star might not be the most challenging, but she portrays it really well with charm and warmth. She is believable as Lizzie and displays a natural beauty and elegance in the part.
The film has many really good characters and an impressive cast list. The more minor roles are played with great aplomb and the lesser plot threads are carried along well by them. Bernard Hill (sans beard) and Eleanor Bron play Peter’s parents, Edward and Augusta, who are going through a crisis in their long marriage. They get less air time than they deserve, but they have some of the most poignant scenes in the film and are memorable characters.
Sam Neill has little to stretch him as Lizzie’s father and tennis coach, Dennis, but he performs well enough. Robert Lindsay is woefully underused as Ian Frazier, who is trying to get Peter Colt to become his Director of Tennis after he retires. James McAvoy has some great lines as Peter’s younger brother, Carl, who carries the running joke of betting against Big Bro at every opportunity.
Special notice should be made of Danish-born Nikolaj Coater-Waldau who plays Dieter Proll, Colt’s best friend and training partner. Dieter is slightly under-developed, but does well with what he has and Nikolaj portrays him in a way which infuses him with heart and humour.
The cinematography throughout is stunning. The tennis is never dull to watch, even for people who abhor sport. There are so many different photographic techniques used, including zooming, freeze frame and slow motion, that it becomes an art form. The director seems to instinctively know when the drama of the match itself needs to be left to straight shots and when the effects should be used. It all adds to the tension and excitement of the plot and makes it a beautiful piece of filming.
The film benefits from the two parallel storylines – the romance and the tennis. Both develop at a good pace and hold the viewer’s interest throughout. The film seems to be over too quickly, which can be a good thing, as it never drags or feels boring. I felt I would have liked it to be another 15-30 minutes longer though, so we could have seen more of the lesser characters. At a time when most films seem to last around two hours, this one seemed to fly by at only 98 minutes long.
Wimbledon is rated a 12, as it has a few minor swear words and some sex scenes (but you really don’t see anything). I would be happy for my eleven year old daughter to watch it. It is a good film for all the family to sit around – parents, grandparents and kids aged over ten or eleven. My husband really enjoyed it, as did my fourteen year old daughter (who saw it earlier with her friends).
It’s not a deep, thoughtful film which will make you think about world issues. It is a light, entertaining film which will captivate you and leave you smiling. A wonderful feel-good movie which I loved and will buy, when it comes out on DVD.
Oh and expect greater things to come from Paul Bettany. He’s a star. Working Title www.workingtitlefilms.com Cast and crew details on www.imdb.com
Advantages: Good performances Disadvantages: A formulaic film with nothing to bring it above the rank and file
...and fall in love at Wimbledon and for the first time in his career, Peter really feels like he could win…
Working Title romantic comedies run to a very rigid format and director Richard Loncraine sticks rigorously to the blueprint. Charming (but sweary) upper-class British man falls in love with feisty American girl, things conspire to keep them apart, but it all ends happily ever after. So far so “Four Weddings and a Funeral”. There’s even the ... ...was shot at the real Wimbledon Championships in 2003, while yet more was filmed on a painstakingly recreated set. The actors barely struck a ball between them. Apart from those that are served, they were all added later by CGI bods. To give them their due, they look real because they move in the same way tennis balls do, warping and stretching in odd ways as they are struck or rebound off surfaces. A great deal of this realism is down to the commitment ...
afy9mab 02.10.2004
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Ciao members have rated this review on average: very helpful Review of Wimbledon 2004 - The Official Film (DVD)
Advantages: A typical love story, Excellent back drop using Wimbledon 2003, Some funny moments Disadvantages: Far too predictabvle, Perhaps the wrong leads, The ending as far too unrealistic
...myself to sitting and watching Wimbledon for an hour and a half. It’s not normally my type of film but I even found myself watching Bring It On due to the presence of Ms Dunst. I didn’t have any expectations for the film, probably a good thing, so sat down to watch it with an open mind.
A once famous Tennis player things have gone from bad to worse for Peter Colt (Paul Bettany) who has fallen down the rankings to 117. In fact things are so bad for ... ...all worked around the famous Wimbledon tournament and as the tournament progresses the relationship between Lizzie and Peter develops. Of course in typical film by numbers style her Dad wants her to concentrate on her game and finds Peter to be a distraction. At the same time there is the ex boyfriend, the men’s No. 1 player and favourite for the tournament. In an amazing coincidence the closer Peter and Lizzie get the better his game becomes and ...
Andy.mack 29.01.2005
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Ciao members have rated this review on average: very helpful Review of Wimbledon 2004 - The Official Film (DVD)
Advantages: Light, fluffy comedy with two good leads Disadvantages: Unrealistic, more smiles than laugh out loud funny
...Grant.
PLOT:
Obviously, Wimbledon is set during Britain's infamous tennis championship, one of the Grand Slam titles that every tennis player wants to win. Lizzie Bradbury (Kirsten Dunst - Spiderman 2) is no exception. Ranked as the world's number 2 player, she has a good shot at the title and she's not prepared to let it go. Her coach father, Mr Bradbury (Sam Niell - Jurassic Park) constantly pushes her to succeed on the court, usually at the ... ...Lizzie isn't the only one going for the top spot. Once ranked 11th in the world, ageing tennis ace Peter Colt (Paul Bettany) is now somewhere near the bottom of the rankings. At 31 and with a no-prospect job at a country club the only thing on the horizon, Colt gets a wild card for what he has already decided will be his last ever tournament.
Lizzie is stalked by the press everywhere she goes, courted by sponsors and young tennis players alike. ...
lush_lozenge 01.10.2004
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Ciao members have rated this review on average: very helpful Review of Wimbledon 2004 - The Official Film (DVD)
Advantages: Not so cheesy romantic comedy Disadvantages: story is more than a little predictable
...prospect of a romance during Wimbledon because he is convinced that it adversely affects her game. This of course complicates the lives of the lead characters and at the same time provides an excellent recipe for a romantic comedy. I am personally a huge fan of tennis although many of my friends and family have little regard for it. It is after all not the most exciting sport in the world I'll grant you that hitting a green ball over a net but for ... ...screen but the makers of Wimbledon have not only done it but have done it exceedingly well. With the aid of CGI and some tricky cinematography Wimbledon features many new and virtually impossible angles that youre unlikely to ever see in broadcast tennis so even if tennis is not your thing Im sure youll have some appreciation for the game here. Of course the film is not just about tennis it is also a very well written romantic comedy that avoids ...
meggyloo 11.01.2005
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Ciao members have rated this review on average: very helpful Review of Wimbledon 2004 - The Official Film (DVD)
Advantages: Quite funny, a refreshing take on a romantic comedy. Disadvantages: Lightweight and cheesy.
...so when I first saw Wimbledon advertised, I reckoned it'd be worth a look.
The movie gods and goddesses were obviously rather keen to encourage my hormones and feed my good-looking-young-male-actors addiction, as one rather slow afternoon I got the pleasant surprise of two tickets for a preview of Wimbledon popping through my letterbox courtesy of the BBC. Well, you can't say better than a freebie, so after enrolling a friend to come along with ... ...watching a film set in Wimbledon in the summer, when you know you'll have to walk out the summer to meet the rather unpleasant September summer.
You find yourself rooting for Colt right through the film, even though the whole story is a bit predictable, and you can't help but leave with a big cheesy grin on your face, even though you do feel like a right sap for doing it!
So is it worth forking out your hard earned pennies on? Well, I suppose it ...
Guru-On-A-Mountain 03.10.2004
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Ciao members have rated this review on average: very helpful Review of Wimbledon 2004 - The Official Film (DVD)
Product Information for "Wimbledon 2004 - The Official Film (DVD)" »
Product details
Genre
Sports - Tennis
Classification
Exempt
Production Year
2004
Running Time
1 hour
Plot
Highlights of the 2004 Wimbledon Tennis tournament.
Release details
DVD Region
DVD
Studio(s)
ITV DVD; CINRAM LOGISTICS
Release date
20/09/2004
No of Discs
1
Catalogue No
37115 10703
Barcode
5037115107039
Languages
Main Language
English
Hearing Impaired Language
English
Technical information
Aspect Ratio
16:9
Sound
Mono
Dubbing Sound
Mono English
DVD Description
Highlights of the 2004 Wimbledon tournament, capped by Swiss tour de force Roger Federer's second Championship victory, this time against Andy Roddick for the Men's Singles title, and Maria Sharapova's win over Serena Williams for the Ladies' Singles title. Tim Henman reached the quarter finals but was knocked out by the unseeded Croatian Mario Ancic.
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