Much better than it appeared to be at first...

Rating: 7/10 (7 February 2005)

When I first saw the commercials for this film, I thought, "ahhhh, a film that is going to try and get me interested in tennis (kind of like another Dunst film "Bring it On" trying to get me interested in cheer leading). What is this some tennis coach is falling for his tennis pro pupil?" Boy, did I misjudge this one.
Instead, it explores themes that I think anyone whose ever been serious about a competitive sport has gone through to one degree or another. Peter Colt (Bettany) is a former tennis superstar whose considered the possibility of giving up the sport altogether and taking a job at a local tennis club teaching horny old ladies how to improve their game. That's until he meets Lizzie Bradbury (Dunst) and something begins to happen inside him that seems to translate to his performance on the court.
I ended up liking this film more than I thought I would because the script crafts very likable characters that you as the viewer want to care about. I really liked that you didn't even have to play tennis to know what was going on. Sometimes sports movies get to into the scoring of the game or how its played and you start to feel for the characters involved. I also like an internal dialogue Colt had going on while he was trying to play. Thoughts of frustration and disappointment keeping going through his mind throughout many of the scenes and it actually works. Sometimes directors try to intercut these kinds of things throughout a film and they seem more annoying than anything, but that wasn't the case this time.
The only critique is that near the end of the second act, things start to drag a bit because there starts to be more of a focus on Colt and Bradbury's relationship and less on the actual tennis scenes.
Overall, it was a nice surprise.