"I'd rather be a fake somebody than a real nobody."      

THE TALENTED MR. RIPLEY (R)

Reviewed January 1, 2000 - Check out The Talented Mr. Ripley Website.

Studio Synopsis: To be young and carefree amid the blue waters and idyllic landscape of sun-drenched Italy in the late 1950s; that's la dolce vita Tom Ripley (Matt Damon) craves - and Dickie Greenleaf (Jude Law) leads. When Dickie's father, a wealthy ship builder, asks Tom to bring his errant playboy son back home to America, Dickie and his beautiful expatriate girlfriend, Marge Sherwood (Gwyneth Paltrow), never suspect the dangerous extremes to which Ripley will go to make their lifestyle his own. After all, it's better to be a fake somebody than a real nobody.

Fuzzydog Review: Directed by Anthony Minghella (The English Patient), The Talented Mr. Ripley comes in as yet another lavishly produced, elegantly woven tale from the acclaimed director.  Like The English Patient, Mr. Ripley sets a mood and draws you in...it breathes with a certain rhythm that's all its own, with touches of Hitchcock and film noir sprinkled in for extra flavor.  This psychological thriller, which paints a disturbing picture of growing obsession and deception, is extremely dark in many respects, yet maintains a certain energy which keeps the darkness from getting too heavy.  Sure, our friend Tom Ripley isn't exactly "well" (if you know what I mean), but he is nevertheless an absolutely intriguing character to watch.  This is in part due to Matt Damon's wonderfully spooky performance, but it's also greatly aided by the excellent supporting work in the film, particularly by Jude Law and Philip Seymour Hoffman (as Dickie's good friend Freddie).  No, Mr. Ripley is not your typical mass-audience kind of film--its got an almost overly-understated intensity that may lose some viewers--but it is well-paced, nicely produced, and beautifully shot.  Definitely worth a look...

Responses from cyberspace--thanks for writing!

gillianlover@hotmail.com gives this movie  stars. (3/3/00)

darth_davo@hotmail.com gives this movie  stars: "ood,but disappointing. It lacked something." (3/1/00)

g0917@yahoo.com gives this movie  stars: "I thought that Matt Damon played an excellent character in this movie." (2/12/00)