By Diana Lee LaBrecque

Though many of you are familiar with Kirsten Dunst and her mediocre flimsy film career, you might be less educated with the British actor Paul Bettany. He was born and raised in England and has been acting in major motion pictures for years. Americans know him for his co-starring roles in A Beautiful Mind and A Knight’s Tale. The 34-year-old foreigner has never been given a chance to stand alone in front of the camera until now. Bettany slams the ball into Hollywood’s court with his surprising strong lead role in the romantic comedy Wimbledon. The love story creatively combines subtle British humour with bloody amazing tennis and good-looking lovers.

Bettany takes on the character of Peter Colt; a professional tennis pro, washed and wiped-out from being a then ranked 11th in the world to now a not-so-glamorous 157th. He finds himself invited back to the biggest and most-competitive tennis match in the world: Wimbledon. His character must overcome strained back muscles and psychological obstacles that make him freeze on the court. He must also worry about his growing attraction to Lizzie Bradbury, the all-American, number one tennis pro, played by Dunst. The attraction becomes an off-court romance that heightens with each drop of London rain, and needs to be hidden from the snooping press and Lizzie’s overprotective father, played by Sam Neill (Jurassic Park). While Peter remembers how to love after being lost for years, he slowly remembers how to win at the game he was born to play. But while figuring out if his romance is genuine, he will learn if he is supposed to leave Wimbledon a winner or a genuine wanker.

The film not only follows a brilliantly played out love story, but also the intense, competitive moments that you don’t normally get to see of any tennis match, let alone Wimbledon. Seconds are broken down into moments as Colt analyzes every inch of the game in front of him, trying to block out the crowd and self-doubts. Suspense builds as the ball and racket move through the space deliberately slowly and dramatically. If you think tennis is just about hitting a ball over a net, then you thought wrong. No sports movie has ever been filled with such anticipation and demanding millisecond attention. Even the man in the crowd, whose mobile phone annoyingly rings, manages to piss off the judges and ball boys.

The film was shot on-location in London during Wimbledon 2003. The director wanted to capture the competition and reality of the game so he filmed during the actual tournament. The actors would walk on the court as if they were really competing. The officials and spectators were not hired extras but were all really there for the actual tennijavascript:runAll();s match. The director, Richard Loncraine, should be extremely proud because this is the only film in history that has been able to pull off filming a movie during the actual professional sports event.

The on-screen chemistry between Dunst and Bettany is as natural and precedent as the Queen having tea and scones. Reese Witherspoon and Hugh Grant were actually in mind for the lead roles, but Dunst and Bettany were born to play lovers in any country with any sport in the background. As the tournament continues the characters go to great lengths to be with each other, which can only spark a love-er-ly, warm feeling that couldn’t be replaced with any amount of warm, cuddly fires in wintertime. Cynics beware; this love duo could have been the ones to convince Lennon that All You Need Is Love.

Final Grade: B+