Wimbledon

Wall Street Journal Joe Morgenstern

A sports movie with a quick wit, uncommon grace and a romantic soul.

Salon.com Charles Taylor

Slick, satisfying entertainment, as is the chemistry of Dunst and Bettany.

Dallas Observer Gregory Weinkauf

The movie is smart, funny, romantic, and rousing.

Austin Chronicle Kimberley Jones

Terribly tender, good-hearted picture.

Chicago Sun-Times Roger Ebert

This is not a great movie, and you will be able to live quite happily without seeing it, but what it does, it does with a certain welcome warmth.

ReelViews James Berardinelli

A crowd-pleaser.

Premiere Staff (Not Credited)

It's capable and strong direction that hold the audience through the final match, but in the end, it's Paul Bettany's world, and the rest of us are just happy to visit for an hour and a half.

Entertainment Weekly Owen Gleiberman

Nothing more than amiable fluff, yet Bettany infuses it with a brazen dash of reality. You believe in him, even when you don't quite believe in the movie.

Slate David Edelstein

A bit of a philosophical muddle, but the climactic tennis scenes are galvanically convincing, with some long, nerve-racking volleys. And the rest of the picture works as "Notting Hill" (1999) with balls--and rackets.

Film Threat Rick Kisonak

You aren't likely to see a film with more warmth and good humor anytime soon or one that does more to give feel good filmmaking a good name.

USA Today Claudia Puig

Bettany is the best thing about the movie. A wonderful dramatic actor, he also proves to be richly skilled at romantic comedy, playing Peter with an easy grace and a droll sense of humor.

The Globe and Mail (Toronto) Liam Lacey

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.

New York Daily News Jami Bernard

As a love story, Wimbledon is a washout. As a meditation on sports psychology, it might help improve your game.

Miami Herald Connie Ogle

Wimbledon may have its faults, but it's the sort of upbeat fantasy that's tough to resist. Maybe love wins in tennis after all.

Philadelphia Inquirer Carrie Rickey

A slick comedy that's more fun than it has any right to be.

The New York Times Stephen Holden

Although Wimbledon is a much more conventional film, it still has cleverer-than-average dialogue and sharply drawn subsidiary characters.

The Hollywood Reporter Sheri Linden

Boasts appealing leads and dazzling court play, but the film never rises above its by-the-numbers plot to generate emotional heat.

TV Guide Angel Cohn

Bettany, previously best known as a supporting player, shoulders the burden of a Hugh Grant-style romantic lead surprisingly well, revealing an offbeat charm.

Los Angeles Times Carina Chocano

The Bjorn Borg of romantic comedies: precise, good-looking, dependable and serviceable, if predictable. It never really heats up, which is too bad.

Chicago Reader Hank Sartin

Never quite settles on a tone, veering from wacky comedy to earnest sports drama to romantic farce. The results are predictably muddled, if mostly harmless.

Empire Angie Errigo

The tennis itself is ridiculously far-fetched, and yet this may still be the best tennis movie ever made.

Seattle Post-Intelligencer William Arnold

Surprisingly, the weak link is Dunst, who's previously been the delight of all her movies.

San Francisco Chronicle Carla Meyer

There's no hiding a hokey love story that undercuts the picture's compelling tennis scenes.

The Onion (A.V. Club) Keith Phipps

The perfect movie for 14-year-old girls having a slumber party, and a must for everyone else to avoid.

Washington Post Michael O'Sullivan

As messages go, I've certainly heard worse. As movies go, Wimbledon is a generally painless float down a lazy river.

New York Post Lou Lumenick

An ultra-predictable if essentially painless romantic comedy.

Baltimore Sun Chris Kaltenbach

The cinematic equivalent of a careless foot fault.

Portland Oregonian Karen Karbo

The only genuine laughs come from Peter's self-sabotaging inner monologue.

Washington Post Ann Hornaday

The best thing about all of this is Bettany.

Boston Globe Wesley Morris

Wimbledon is refried "Notting Hill" with a Teen People glaze. The latter movie also gave us an American star cheering up some tired British guy. Wimbledon is blander and far less worth rooting for.

Variety Justin Chang

A fanciful tennis-themed romance that compounds the old dilemma of "Will he get the girl?" with "Will he get the trophy?" But the answers are too predictable and laughs too scattered for this middling Universal release to generate much in the way of humor or suspense.

Village Voice Jessica Winter

The appealing leads have strong chemistry, but it's the wrong kind: an affectionate big-brother/little-sister rapport that leaves a discomfiting taint on their more amorous clinches.

LA Weekly Chuck Wilson

Director Richard Loncraine (Richard III) moves things right along, but during the final tennis match, his pacing is undone by sports-movie convention, particularly the witless color commentary offered by tennis legends John McEnroe and Chris Evert.

Rolling Stone Peter Travers

There's no script to speak of, just two appealing actors volleying comic-romantic cliches at each other.

Chicago Tribune Michael Wilmington

It's a harmless enough movie, and quite a good-looking one; Bettany and Dunst are an attractive enough couple, even if Lizzie has been written as a selfish little snip and he as a whining man-child.