Woody Allen wrote and directed this movie; however, unlike most of his movies, he doesn’t actually appear in it.  This also happens to be his first movie that was filmed entirely in England.  He was able to pull together a wonderful cast; each actor really suits their part.

The story centers around Chris Wilton (Jonathan Rhys Meyers).  He is a young man from Ireland that has recently relocated to London.  He grew up very poor and is trying to change his fortune.  Chris was a professional tennis player, however, that wasn’t providing him with the lifestyle he wanted.  So he gives that up and becomes a tennis instructor at an exclusive country club, hoping that it will provide more opportunity for him to move up in the world.

Chris is quite the charmer, plus he spends his free time studying things like Dostoyevsky and listening to opera.  He is setting himself up so that he can successfully integrate himself into the world of the wealthy.  It doesn’t take long before he is befriended by Tom Hewett (Matthew Goode).  Tom is from a very wealthy family and definitely lives the good life.

Tom’s family has private box seats to the opera, so after learning that Chris loves opera he invites him to attend with his family.  In addition to Tom’s parents being in attendance, his sister Chloe (Emily Mortimer) is also there.  Of course, she is immediately taken with Chris and it doesn’t take long for them to become involved.

Chloe’s parents are equally as impressed with Chris.  So when Chloe tells her father that Chris is looking for a new line of work, he quickly finds a position for him at one of his companies.  A well paying one, I might add.  Chris finds himself living the type of life that he has dreamed of.

Things are going well for Chris until he is invited to attend a weekend gathering at the Hewett family home in the country.  There he meets a beautiful, sensual woman named Nola Rice (Scarlett Johansson).  There is an immediate spark between them.  Come to find out Nola is Tom’s fiancée.  Chris finds he just can’t stop thinking about her.

As you can imagine things get even more complicated as time goes on.  Chris finds himself in Nola’s company quite often since their fiancée’s are brother and sister.  The sexual tension between them keeps building, until the inevitable happens.

This is an interesting, well paced film that starts out as a story about people’s wants, needs and relationships; which ends up turning into a thriller.  I really enjoyed this movie.  It’s an interesting look at human nature and how far they will go to get what they want.

Both Jonathan and Scarlett are amazing in this.  They are both wonderful actors in their own right, but when you put them together they really burn up the screen.  Not to mention, they are both absolutely gorgeous and just ooze sensuality; which is just what is needed for the characters they are portraying.

Some of my favorite quotes:

Tom – “It’s just that it’s 5:00 somewhere, darling, and I’ve some serious cocktails to start making.”

Nola – “I was doing just fine until you showed up.”

Chris – “Ah, the story of my life.”

Chris – “I’m naturally competitive.  Is it off-putting?”

Nola – “I’ll have to think about that for a while.”

Chloe – “Papa says he’s heard great things.  You’re a very clever boy.”

Chris – “Where are you going?”

Nola – “Oh, I’m just having a nervous breakdown.”

Chris – “Why?”

Nola – “Well, I have an audition in ten minutes and, uh.  As usual, my confidence level, which started off at a ten, is now at a zero.”

Chris – “I’m sure she’s not more beautiful than you are.”

Nola – “He saw me across the room and he honed in on me, like a guided missile.”

Nola – “You’re gonna do very well for yourself, unless you blow it.”

Chris – “And how am I going to blow it.”

Nola – “By making a pass at me.”

Chris – “Where was all this confidence when you needed it in the audition?”

Chloe – “His shooting’s not really up to his tennis, poor thing.”

Alec – “He’s right, Eleanor.  I think you’ve had one too many G and T’s.”

Chris – “I like it when you drink.  You get flirtatious.”

Jan

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Following is additional information about the show that contains spoilers.  If you don’t want to be spoiled don’t read any further.

Wow, what an amazing performance by Jonathan during the scenes when Chris kills Nola and the elderly lady next door.  I love the range of emotions he goes through; it makes the scenes feel so realistic.  Starting off so shaky that he can barely put the shotgun together, to calmly and cold bloodedly pulling the trigger and then having a bit of a meltdown over what he has done.

The scene when Chris tosses the wedding ring is great.  I love the slo-mo visual as it goes towards the water, but then it hits the railing and bounces back (unbeknownst to Chris).  Only in this case instead of losing the match as you would in tennis, it’s actually the thing that makes him come out on top.

 It’s prom night, Chris Pratt (Joseph Gordon-Levitt), his girlfriend, his best friend and his friend’s girlfriend are on their way to an after prom party.  Chris takes a detour down a country road so he can show his girlfriend the fireflies.  He puts the top down on his convertible so they can see them better.  Once he sees them he turns off the headlights so the effect will be even more magical.  At first everyone is impressed by the sight before them, however, they start to get nervous about him driving without lights on.  He reluctantly turns them back on just in time to see a combine that is stalled out in the middle of the road.  We don’t see what happens because there is a quick cut away right before impact would occur.

We jump forward four years later and find that Chris suffered a moderate traumatic brain injury in the crash.  Which has totally turned his world upside down.  He used to be a high school hockey star with a bright future ahead of him.  Now he has to constantly write notes to himself so he can remember the routine things he has to do each day.  He also has disinhibition, which will cause him at times to say some pretty inappropriate things.  Chris has trouble controlling his left hand, will sometimes suddenly fall asleep and when he gets frustrated about something he gets very angry.

He attends a class at the Independent Life Skills Center in order to help him cope with his new life.  Lewis (Jeff Daniels) is his roommate.  He is a blind man that the center hooked him up with.  Although, Lewis is pretty independent, there are some things that he needs Chris to help him with.  As far as Chris goes, he really needs someone patient that can help him work through his frustrations and Lewis is the perfect man for the job.  He knows how to talk to Chris and is able to help him work through his problems.

One night when Chris is hanging out at the local bar he meets Gary Spargo (Matthew Goode).  Gary recognizes him and introduces himself.  He said he went to the same school but was a couple years ahead of Chris and even dated his sister a couple of times.  Gary has a way about him which causes to Chris immediately feel comfortable with him.  Chris even opens up to him about the accident, how two of his friends died and how it has personally affected his life.

Not too long after meeting Gary, a pretty girl approaches him.  Her name is Luvlee (Isla Fisher) and she is a friend of Gary’s.  Chris is immediately attracted to her and enjoys all the attention she is paying him (he hasn’t had much luck with woman after the accident).  Both Gary and Luvlee go out of their way to make sure Chris feels important. 

It doesn’t take long until we find out what Gary’s ulterior motive is.  He and his friends are going to rob a bank and it just so happens that it’s the bank that Chris works as a night janitor at.  Chris’s immediate reactions are shock, hurt feelings and refusal to cooperate.  However, Gary knows all the right buttons to push and before long he has Chris agreeing to help them.

This is a terrific movie.  There are characters you really care about, an interesting story line and a great buildup to a very suspenseful ending.  Joseph is amazing.  He creates such a believable, multi-layered character and makes you really feel for the guy.  Yes, the accident was his fault and resulted in the deaths of two people.  However, it wasn’t intentional; it was an impulsive teenage act that he has to face the consequences of for the rest of his life.  You can’t help but root for him throughout the story.

I also really enjoyed the interaction between Chris and Lewis.  They made a terrific team and even though they sometimes had disagreements you could tell that they really cared about each other.  Joseph and Jeff had great chemistry and played off each other very well.

The biggest surprise for me in this movie was Matthew Goode.  I had only seen him play good guys before (Matchpoint and Imagine Me & You).  I was really impressed with his convincing portrayal of Gary.  He could pull off the tough guy bits, but was also able to make him more than just the typical one dimensional bad guy.  He brought a lot of depth and charm to the character.

Some of my favorite quotes:

Chris – “I take a shower … with soap.”

Chris – “I eat breakfast but I don’t read the paper.  It confuses me, which makes me mad.”

Lewis – “Hey, kid, your mom called to remind you about Thanksgiving.  I told her you had a hooker in your room and couldn’t talk just now but that I’d be sure to pass on the message.”

Chris – “Yeah. Well, I call tomatoes “lemons.”  I know that’s wrong.  And sometimes certain colors have certain smells.”

Gary – “That’s weird.”

Lewis – “Can I say something?  You won’t get upset?”

Chris – “What?”

Lewis – “I don’t think you should go home anymore.”

Luvlee – “Me and Alice Watts were, like, “Damn, it must be pretty cool to be Chris Pratt”.”

Lewis – “Son of a b*tch, you got laid.”

Chris – “I don’t really wanna talk about it.”

Lewis – “Oh, but you are, my friend, you are.”

Lewis – “And by stage, I’m assuming you mean the kind with a pole?”

Chris – “What do you mean?”

Lewis – “Let’s move on.”

Lewis – “You know, aside from that Reuben hiccup, I think it went pretty well.”

Lewis – “Please tell me you’re not waving your hand in front of my face.”

Luvlee – “Oh, sorry.”

Lewis – “And what happens if I google Gary?”

Gary – “Whoever has the money has the power.”

Lewis – “Start at the end.  Can’t tell a story if you don’t know where it’s going.”

Random Stuff:

Bones is scary.

Chris’s father is an @sshole.

The extra “Behind the Mind of Chris Pratt” was very interesting.  Joseph talks about how he prepared for the part.  He seems like a very intelligent guy that really takes his work seriously.

Jan

P.S.  Comments are welcomed.  Scroll towards the bottom of the page (below the spoiler section) to where it says “Click Here to Make a Comment”.  Or on entries from previous days there is a comment box.

Following is additional information about the show that contains spoilers.  If you don’t want to be spoiled don’t read any further.

I was so sad when they shot and killed Ted.  He was a sweet guy.

I felt so bad for Chris.  When it finally dawned on him what he had gotten himself into, he tried to get out of it, which of course didn’t work.  Now Lewis is in danger because of him.  I liked how as he flipped through his little notebook it gave him the clues he needed to formulate a plan to save Lewis.  Putting into use Lewis’s “start at the end and work your way forward” advice.