game, set and match but slightly side tracked.....

Rating: 8/10 (9 March 2008)

The trailer offered another affair movie. Hasn't this really been done before? But the film talks more about affairs. It goes on about the elements of luck, money and sacrifice for love or comfort. Jonathan Rhys Myers does a good performance as a poor tennis coach who happens to meet Chloe, a sweet but somewhat unadventorous girl who falls in love with him and helps him achieve financial success. Yet Chris (Myers) is attracted to his brother in law's fiancé, Nola Rice (Scarlet Johannsen) who is luscious, sexy and mesmorising. What becomes a casual affair soon turns into a decision that will change Chris's life and situatino forever.
What is appealing and intriguing about this film is its themes that while cliché, are done quite convincingly from all performers. Johannsen is extremely terrific as an American girl trying to find her way in life, and you can see why Chris is memmorised be her and not with his wife Chloe who is an extreme bore to him. The pace of the film almost feels like it is set out in acts like a play, but gets right to the point of what the director Woody Allen wants to convey. The ending is a bit far fetched and feels a bit clumsily done but nevertheless makes an extremely good watch.