A good film--but no masterpiece

Rating: 7/10 (2 February 2006)

A Woody Allen film shot in London! An retired Irish tennis star Chris (Jonathan Rhys Meyers) quits the circuit and takes a job teaching rich people how to play. He becomes friends with VERY rich Tom Hewett (Matthew Goode) and starts romancing his sister Chloe (Emily Mortimer). Then he meets Tom's girlfriend Nola (Scarlett Johansson) and falls in lust for her...
This isn't a comedy. It's a very grim tale of adultery. This has been praised as a comeback for Woody Allen--his last few films have been laugh less comedies. It's also been described as a masterpiece. It is good but not THAT good.
To be totally honest I don't understand why this is being praised so much. The story is downbeat and moves VERY slowly (this film could easily lose 20 minutes). The affair between Chris and Nola comes out of nowhere--I never believed it for one second. Nola comes off as shrill and having no idea what she wants out of life. Her character is very unlikable--you wonder what Chris sees in her. The film really falls apart during the ending. Nola acts seriously deranged and Chris goes WAY too far. I also saw the resolution coming from a mile away. Also Allen has no feeling at all on how to shoot London. In his New York films you got a real sense of the city--not here in London. Also ALL the characters (with the exception of Nola) are nice--all the time. They're TOO nice. I didn't believe them for one second.
The acting really carries this film. Meyers is drop dead handsome and very good in his role. Goode and Mortimer are also good. I didn't like Johansson but that's mostly because of her character.
So I don't really like this film but I don't hate it. I was fairly entertained and it was OK. I give it a 7 and that's mostly because of the acting.