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Wimbledon
Metascore
59 out of 100

Mixed or average reviews - based on 35 Critics

Critic score distribution:
  1. Positive: 15 out of 35
  2. Mixed: 20 out of 35
  3. Negative: 0 out of 35
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  1. Salon.com
    Reviewed by: Charles Taylor
    80
    Slick, satisfying entertainment, as is the chemistry of Dunst and Bettany.
  2. Dallas Observer
    Reviewed by: Gregory Weinkauf
    80
    The movie is smart, funny, romantic, and rousing.
  3. Wall Street Journal
    Reviewed by: Joe Morgenstern
    80
    A sports movie with a quick wit, uncommon grace and a romantic soul.
    All this critic's reviews
  4. Austin Chronicle
    Reviewed by: Kimberley Jones
    78
    Terribly tender, good-hearted picture.
  5. Chicago Sun-Times
    Reviewed by: Roger Ebert
    75
    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.
  6. ReelViews
    Reviewed by: James Berardinelli
    75
    A crowd-pleaser.
  7. Premiere
    Reviewed by: Staff (Not Credited)
    75
    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.
  8. Entertainment Weekly
    Reviewed by: Owen Gleiberman
    75
    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.
  9. Film Threat
    Reviewed by: Rick Kisonak
    70
    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.
  10. Slate
    Reviewed by: David Edelstein
    70
    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.
  11. Miami Herald
    Reviewed by: Connie Ogle
    63
    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.
  12. New York Daily News
    Reviewed by: Jami Bernard
    63
    As a love story, Wimbledon is a washout. As a meditation on sports psychology, it might help improve your game.
  13. Philadelphia Inquirer
    Reviewed by: Carrie Rickey
    63
    A slick comedy that's more fun than it has any right to be.
  14. USA Today
    Reviewed by: Claudia Puig
    63
    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.
  15. The Globe and Mail (Toronto)
    Reviewed by: Liam Lacey
    63
    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.
  16. The Hollywood Reporter
    Reviewed by: Sheri Linden
    60
    Boasts appealing leads and dazzling court play, but the film never rises above its by-the-numbers plot to generate emotional heat.
  17. TV Guide
    Reviewed by: Angel Cohn
    60
    Bettany, previously best known as a supporting player, shoulders the burden of a Hugh Grant-style romantic lead surprisingly well, revealing an offbeat charm.
  18. Empire
    Reviewed by: Angie Errigo
    60
    The tennis itself is ridiculously far-fetched, and yet this may still be the best tennis movie ever made.
  19. Los Angeles Times
    Reviewed by: Carina Chocano
    60
    The Bjorn Borg of romantic comedies: precise, good-looking, dependable and serviceable, if predictable. It never really heats up, which is too bad.
  20. The New York Times
    Reviewed by: Stephen Holden
    60
    Although Wimbledon is a much more conventional film, it still has cleverer-than-average dialogue and sharply drawn subsidiary characters.
  21. Chicago Reader
    Reviewed by: Hank Sartin
    60
    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.
  22. Seattle Post-Intelligencer
    Reviewed by: William Arnold
    58
    Surprisingly, the weak link is Dunst, who's previously been the delight of all her movies.
  23. Rolling Stone
    Reviewed by: Peter Travers
    50
    There's no script to speak of, just two appealing actors volleying comic-romantic cliches at each other.
  24. Chicago Tribune
    Reviewed by: Michael Wilmington
    50
    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.
  25. New York Post
    Reviewed by: Lou Lumenick
    50
    An ultra-predictable if essentially painless romantic comedy.
  26. San Francisco Chronicle
    Reviewed by: Carla Meyer
    50
    There's no hiding a hokey love story that undercuts the picture's compelling tennis scenes.
  27. Boston Globe
    Reviewed by: Wesley Morris
    50
    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.
  28. Baltimore Sun
    Reviewed by: Chris Kaltenbach
    50
    The cinematic equivalent of a careless foot fault.
  29. Portland Oregonian
    Reviewed by: Karen Karbo
    50
    The only genuine laughs come from Peter's self-sabotaging inner monologue.
  30. L.A. Weekly
    Reviewed by: Chuck Wilson
    50
    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.
  31. The A.V. Club
    Reviewed by: Keith Phipps
    50
    The perfect movie for 14-year-old girls having a slumber party, and a must for everyone else to avoid.
  32. Village Voice
    Reviewed by: Jessica Winter
    50
    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.
  33. Variety
    Reviewed by: Justin Chang
    50
    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.
  34. Washington Post
    Reviewed by: Michael O'Sullivan
    50
    As messages go, I've certainly heard worse. As movies go, Wimbledon is a generally painless float down a lazy river.
  35. Washington Post
    Reviewed by: Ann Hornaday
    50
    The best thing about all of this is Bettany.
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User Reviews

All reviews »
User Score
6.6 out of 10

Generally favorable reviews- based on 27 Ratings

User score distribution:
  1. Positive: 14 out of 19
  2. Mixed: 2 out of 19
  3. Negative: 3 out of 19
  1. rotku
    6
    As somebody with only a passing interest in the game of tennis, I must admit to finding this movie quite enjoyable. It was nice to see somebody other than Hugh Grant play the awkward English gentleman and the chemistry between Bettany and Dunst is believable. I felt the supporting cast we not really given enough screen time to properly develop but this does not detract from the main storyline which proceeds along at a nice pace. A typical rom-com but one that is well worth a watch.… Full Review »
  2. Lez
    10
    It lacks plenty of things, but this is certainly a romance movie, and you can feel every bit of it.
  3. mickeyt.
    9
    Simple but sooo effective, like any solid rom-com i love tennis, and i love the constant buzz the film has... not too in your face, but still lively thruout... Actually quite subtle in places, and great on re-viewing... S.e.e. T.h.i.s .F.i.l.m.… Full Review »
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