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Home Archives for tennis

May 15, 2012 By iluvcinema 9 Comments

Tuesday’s Overlooked Film: Wimbledon (2004)

Simply put I have tennis on the mind as of late. I have previously alluded to my love of tennis and tied it into films that feature the sport prominently. Now, I would like to take the opportunity to take a closer look at one of my favorite films in this area – the 2004 romantic comedy Wimbledon starring Kirsten Dunst and Paul Bettany and directed by Richard Loncraine.

The film is primarily seen from Peter Colt’s (Bettany’s) perspective. He is a professional tennis player in his waning years – in fact, after his participation in the upcoming Wimbledon tournament (he gets into tournament as a wildcard), he has plans to retire and work as a pro at a posh tennis club.

A ‘happy accident’ leads to Peter bumping into brash American upstart Lizzie Bradbury (Dunst). Sparks fly but the course of true love never did run smoothly. An overbearing tennis parent (in the form of Sam Neill), sees his daughter’s budding interest with Mr. Colt as an impedance to the glory on grass that (obviously) awaits. Add to the mix the pressure of the Wimbledon competition and you have a recipe for several peaks and valleys before our film reaches its satisfying climax.

Although Wimbledon is a fairly straightforward tale, it is a winner in my book down to a well-written script and solid performances from the leads and supporting characters. Of note are Jon Favreau as Peter’s opportunistic sports agent and James McAvoy as Peter’s ne’er do well younger brother, Carl. Also having been filmed in and around London and Brighton does not hurt either 🙂

* be sure to visit Todd Mason’s blog for more great overlooked titles!

Filed Under: Overlooked Films Tagged With: kirsten dunst, paul bettany, tennis, wimbledon

October 29, 2009 By idawson 1 Comment

Tennis Movies (Hollywood at the Net)

I am a self-confessed tennis junkie. No two ways about it.  I just finished watching a round robin match of the Sony Ericsson WTA season ending the tour season. It got me thinking about movies that features tennis as a sport. Yeah we have baseball, basketball, football (US and World–soccer), race car driving … you name it. In my research I have stumbled upon this really cool website:  Sports In Movies.

I then did the obligatory task of searching under the sport of tennis and this is what the search yielded:

Alphabetical List of Tennis Movies
TITLE YEAR RATING
Match Point 2005 R
Nobody’s Perfect 1989 PG-13
Tennis Anyone…? 2005 NR
Wimbledon 2004 PG-13

Chart Source: SportsInMovies.com

ONLY FOUR MOVIES? How can that be?  Before I rundown this list, there is obviously one significant omission Strangers on a Train. Who can forget this?

Now back to the list … I have seen 3 out of 4 the movies listed (Never heard of “Nobody’s Perfect” until I did the search). And while Match Point features a tennis player, it is essentially a very minor plot point (and part of the title). Tennis Anyone is pretty much a turkey made by folks who obviously love the game and just wanted to make a film about it.  But it has Draco Malfoy’s dad in it so it cannot be too horrific of a watch.

That just leaves Wimbledon. I was at first skeptical about this film because it was in and out of theater, which did not bode well. But I finally caught it on HBO a number of years ago. And I am glad I did. Paul Bettany and a pre-overly famous James McAvoy?  And it is shot in and around London? You really cannot get sweeter than that. Besides it is a cute story with characters who were doppelgangers/composites of real life players. If you love tennis I highly recommend this film.

Filed Under: Commentary Tagged With: films, hollywood, tennis

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