Genre: comedy, romance

Wimbledon

Directed by Richard Loncraine

Written by Adam Brooks, Jennifer Flackett and Mark Levin

Starring Paul Bettany, Kirsten Dunst and Sam Neill

Classification: PG

Rating: **½

Echoing with the plop, plop, plop, of tennis balls, Wimbledon uses the world's most famous tennis tournament as the setting for a standard post-Four Weddings and a Funeral British romantic comedy. Once again, a bumbling Brit (Paul Bettany), surrounded by colourful sidekick characters and tourist-friendly London backgrounds, meets a brassy American gal (Kirsten Dunst) who stiffens his pride and resolve.

"We all start out in life with a dream," says Peter Colt (Bettany) in Wimbledon's wistful opening voice-over. A washed-up 32-year-old who has dropped in rank to 157, Peter has fallen well short of his aspirations. Then, unexpectedly, he finds himself in a "wild-card" spot in Wimbledon.

Short shrift is made of the leap from meeting to mating. Peter wanders into the wrong hotel room and finds American tennis star Lizzie Bradbury (Kirsten Dunst) taking a shower. Next day they meet on the court and soon Lizzie vouches that "a little fooling around can be good for your game."

Sure enough, Peter discovers a whole new bounce in his racquet, but while he flourishes in the tournament, Lizzie founders. ("Love means nothing in tennis, zero," she fumes.) Enter the romantic-comedy impediment: Lizzie's protective dad/manager (Sam Neill) works to keep them from any more secret doubles play.

While Bettany and Dunst are both appealing, their chemistry lacks much fizz. As it is, the pair seem less like lovers than bouncy transatlantic cousins.

Wimbledon's last third focuses on Peter's on-court assertions of manhood as he surmounts an ever-more improbable series of come-from-behind victories. The dramatic dives, slides and flashy volleys are assisted by computer-generated imagery and commentary by John McEnroe and Chris Everett. Consistent with the Brit rom-com conventions, Peter is finally prepared for something really improbable: a well-bred Englishman making a very public display of affection.