Subtly redefining the mould of the British 'chick-flick'

Rating: 7/10 (29 June 2008)

Overall I felt this was quite a good film that subtly redefined the mould of the British 'chick-flick' romantic comedy/drama.
It almost lost me in the first few scenes when Robert Lindsay was introduced as the tennis club manager with stereotypical skinny moustache to let you know he is a bit of a sleaze, but work through that and the underlying sub plot of this being Peter Colt's last chance to not be one of the barely remembered, did not quite make it tennis club pro's works quite well.
The Lizzie Bradbury character of the female lead also veered away from the stereotype for that role, although cute and very sexy her character is not particularly nice and it took me a while to get attached to her. However the reality is that at that level of competition in truth how many people are 'Strawberries and Cream nice' very few, so top marks to the script writers for a realistic heroin.
It was good to see a film of this ilk without Hugh Grant as the lead, no disrespect to Mr. Grant but you can only recycle him as the romantic Brit lead so many times. Paul Bettany worked well with a script that was clearly written for Hugh to the point that in the early shower scene if you shut your eyes (which I would highly recommend any red blooded male not to do) you would think it was him playing Peter Colt.
I firmly expected a twist at the end which did not come, to the extent that the ending was quite a surprise, enough said without invoking spoilers.
Also top marks to the old and new British character actors in the lesser parts who always bring an ironic smile to a local in this brand of movie.