This is just like a Woody Allen movie

Rating: 6/10 (10 January 2006)

Edit: Upon further review and after having rewatched A Place in the Sun. I do think this movie is too close for comfort. Having not realized that upon first seeing it I had written the review below. I'll leave it in case the movie still appeals to you, even if it's not very original. ******
Maybe all the people who keep saying that this is so different from everything else he's done haven't seen that much of what he's done. I think this is very much a Woody Allen film and a very good one at that. But a lot of the reviews I'm reading seem off to me. They call it a thriller. I wouldn't say that. They say it's got steamy sex scenes. Well, not really. I think they're selling this as something it's not.
What it is is a compelling story of a former tennis player Chris Wilton (played by Jonathan Rhys Meyers) who's life is at a crossroads. When we meet him he's looking for work as a tennis instructor. He gets the job and as luck would have it he befriends a student of his, Tom (Matthew Goode), who has a more satisfying lifestyle than his own. Very quickly Tom opens the door to this lifestyle for Chris. So what was he supposed to do, not walk through it? Anyway one thing leads to another and Chris finds himself snared in a trap of his own desires, that pull him in opposite directions.
From there on in I find this to be a character study. It's about what choices Chris makes and I find them all to be very difficult choices. And luck does play apart in what happens to him. But there is a view among people who've seen this movie that what should happen doesn't. Or that Karma's Army took a nap and someone gets away with something. But I think it's weird for people to have an assumption that this is how it works. Does every bad person you've ever met "get theirs" in the end? No. So, I think this movie is an honest look at what probably happens a lot and takes a sympathetic view of someone who most people would consider to be a social climber who takes it to the limit. I don't see it that way. But that's probably why I think this is such a good movie. To me, he had to choose between two lives neither of which should have been his. If he made a fatal mistake it was when he accepted Tom's offer to the opera. After that, the die was cast.
I've been a fan of Jonathan Rhys Meyers for a while and I think this is one of his best performances. I've loved Woody Allen for a long time and I think this is one of his better movies. If you liked 'Interiors', as I did, you should like this. I know a lot of people are comparing it to 'Crimes and Misdemeanors' but the tone is totally different to me and I very much prefer this movie. I didn't understand what all the hubbub was about concerning Scarlett Johansson in 'Lost in Translation' but I do like her here. She's got a Gloria Grahame (love her!) thing going on in this movie and I thought she did a great job. The character Emily Watson played, Chloe, annoyed me, so I don't know if I can judge her performance properly, but it was that kind of mousy sheepish person that really shouldn't breathe. But all around the performances were good.
Apart from being a movie buff, I'm a huge tennis fan as well, and I've drawn the net chord parallel to fate myself in the past. You see a guy playing his heart out who winds up losing a match because of a bad bounce or call. That's life isn't it? When you see that happen you feel bad for the loser but you can't blame the winner. They played the game and won. That's what this movie is about, a winner.