I like this one better than most Woody Allen movies.

Rating: Null/10 (26 May 2006)

So, it isn't in New York. It isn't even in the USA. There isn't even a role for Woody Allen himself. There are no characters that seem like Woddy Allen. I really enjoyed it, kept me wondering all the way through, more like a Hitchcock movie or a Shakespeare play. It has very interesting and witty dialog that Allen is famous for, but not in the usual Woodyesque manner.
Set in modern day London, Jonathan Rhys Meyers is Chris Wilton, excellent pro tennis player, but not good enough to be a big winner. So he decides he has enough of the touring life, and looking for some stability takes a job as a teaching pro at an exclusive London club. A series of "lucky" events take Chris on a journey he could never have predicted. In fact, this is the whole theme of the movie, illustrated at the beginning, with a tennis ball that hits the tape, bounces up, and introducing the concept, whether it is lucky enough to bounce over can influence who wins and who loses the match. Life really happens that way, and it is good to see a movie that treats the subject well.
SPOILERS FOLLOW. Chris' first student is a former college tennis player, son of a very wealthy business man. Whether it was set up by Chris we are not sure, but mentioning that he enjoys opera, his student Tom Hewett (Matthew Goode) invites him to a performance, where Chris meets Tom's single sister, Chloe (Emily Mortimer). Chloe is moving past the marrying age and falls hard for Chris, who in turn falls hard for Tom's fiancée, American actress wannabe Nola (Scarlett Johansson). In fact, we never believe he loves Chloe, but marries her as a way to stay near Nola, and to get a nice job in dad's company.
The story takes a big twist as Tom and Nola break up, Nola goes back to the USA, and Chris is stuck with a wife he is not sure he wants. But, when Nola shows up again, Chris cannot control his lust for her, sees her every chance he gets, they develop a torrid affair, always barely avoiding getting found out.
Then Nola gets pregnant, Chris is caught between a wife and security and a passionate woman, who wants a father for her child. Chris, always lying to everyone, decides the only way out is to kill Nola and make it look like she was just in the wrong place at the wrong time. He takes a shotgun into the landlady's apartment right before Nola is expected home, shoots the lady, messes up the apartment, steals some drugs and jewelery, then goes into the hallway and shoots Nola. Police question him, looks like he will get caught, aided by Nola's diary, but a copy murder happens, the thief has the ring stolen from the landlady and cops assume the same thief had killed Nola, they keep the affair secret. When Chris had tried to toss the ring into the river, it hit the top rail as he turned his back, bounced up and back onto the sidewalk, where the eventual thief found it. Match point, decided by chance!!