Wimbledon

From Working Title (Four Weddings…Notting Hill…Love Actually) comes the latest romcom from director Richard Loncraine (The Gathering Storm). The story centres on Peter Colt (Bettany), an aging fading tennis star about to pitch his last attempt at Wimbledon before committing himself to a retirement coaching old ladies. However, when he meets Lizzie Bradbury (Dunst), tennis' new American sweetheart star and he begins to fall for her, he finds a new lease of life and talent that suddenly makes the possibility of becoming Champion more real than ever. But when her own game begins to drop because of him, they both have to work out what is more important to them.

On paper it seems to fall short of its predecessors – where's Hugh Grant and why hasn't Richard Curtis written it??? It doesn't matter though because Bettany is perfectly capable of carrying the lead. He is suitably sweet, charming and really quite sexy and has great chemistry with Kirsten Dunst. The rest of the cast back them up nicely, with some laughs from Peter's off-beat family and agent who seems to be representing everybody. There aren't as many laugh out loud moments as perhaps Curtis would have provided but it's still pretty funny. The tennis action sequences are pretty impressive, especially in the tense finale and there are cameo appearances from John McEnroe and Chris Evert commentating on the matches. All in all this is a sweet and simple romance, great for a night out with friends.

Hannah Upton.