Love, Game, Match

Rating: 3/10 (22 March 2006)

Peter Colt (Paul Bettany) is a 33 year old sometimes talented tennis player now on the lower rungs of the ratings. He'll retire after Wimbledon to country club courts and bored haus fraus of genteel England. Lizzy Bradbury(Kirsten Dunst) is a spoiled, loose American daddy's girl on her way up the Wimbledon ladder. They meet, trade rackets, and dodge daddy (Sam Neill) all during the two weeks of the tournament. Through their sexual escapades caught in the tabloid press, Peter finds himself in a new love relationship that gives his game a much needed boost. For Lizzy however, she is out of the competition and blames Peter for her bad showing. Do Lizzie and Peter find foreplay? Will Peter overcome his aching back and win Wimbledon before he's 34. Will Lizzie learn that swinging a racket means on court and not in bed?
These are the earth shattering questions answered in the maudlin and inane film, Wimbledon. While Bettany give another excellent and solid performance as the charming Peter Colt, audiences have to tolerate Dunst, whose whiny voice and uncoordinated serve is so laughable that tennis buffs will be forced to yell at linesmen on screen and threaten the umpire to call this film out of the bounds and forfeit the audience's money. Awful.