Although it is named after one of the most prestigious tournaments in sports Wimbledon is far from being anything more than a formulaic romantic comedy that not even the highest paid trainer could get back in the game.
Wimbledon tells the story of rising tennis star Lizzie Bradbury (Dunst) and a tennis veteran Peter Colt (Bettany) on his way out and as the two characters wind their way through the story they fall in love, get mad at each other and so on and so on…
The problem with Wimbledon is not only the fact that it follows the rom-com tutorial point by point it is that midway through the film it decides that, while it will stick to the rules, it is going to throw in just about every ill-conceived idea that every screenwriter in history has thought up.
Another low-light is the fact that you are forced to believe that these two are actually going to find enough in common to forge a relationship. Despite the fact that Bettany is 11 years older than Dunst (and looks it) there was far too little reason given as to why Dunst’s character would fall for Mr. Colt, I think his reasons are obvious however.
On top of that tennis fans are sure to be somewhat intrigued by the title and the fact that John McEnroe and Chris Evert are featured in the film, but once they see that Bettany and Dunst aren’t exactly seasoned pros with the racket their dreams will be dashed. This is on top of the fact that a semi-final game at Wimbledon is not played on centre court and I believe I saw the “grass” move one time as if it were turf.
Granted what I just mentioned are nit-picks but if anyone thought that tennis fans weren’t going to see these things, or care, they were mistaken. Because once the story falls apart all that is left is the tennis, and that is nothing short of a disappointment.
