THE TALENTED MR. RIPLEY

Review by Steve Rhodes
c 1999 Steve Rhodes
RATING (0 TO ****): *** 1/2
http://www.rottentomatoes.com/movies/titles/talented_mr_ripley/click.php?review=2

"I always thought it would be better to be a fake somebody than a
real nobody," Tom Ripley (Matt Damon) says in his most revealing
line of the Hitchcockean tale, THE TALENTED MR. RIPLEY, by writer/
director Anthony Minghella (THE ENGLISH PATIENT). Tom, an almost
accidental killer, is the hero of the story.

It all starts when Tom, pretending to be a Princeton grad, meets
Herbert Greenleaf (James Rebhorn). Herbert likes Tom and thinks
he's just the man to go to Italy to bring back Herbert's wayward
son, Dickie (Jude Law). Accepting Herbert's $1,000, the innocent,
well-scrubbed Tom is off on his big assignment to Europe. The
film, which could as easily have been ironically titled AN
INNOCENT ABROAD, follows Tom as he quickly moves up in the world.

With his milk white skin and nerdy glasses, Tom stands out on the
beach among the bronzed bodies of the idle rich in Italy. Law
(GATTACA), who looks like a Greek god, is perfectly cast as a guy
who fully intends to live the rest of his life on his father's
money.

Set in 1958, the movie's lush color palate makes it look like it
was filmed back then. John Seale's inviting cinematography gives
the picture a travelogue gloss. But with creepy music reminiscent
of an old thriller and with the sinister events of the story, you
may have second thoughts about your initial inclination to leave
the theater to book your seat on the next flight out.

Using his newfound knowledge and love of jazz, Tom becomes bosom
buddies with Dickie, a saxophone player. Soon Tom, Dickie and
Dickie's fiancee, Marge Sherwood (Gwyneth Paltrow), become
inseparable. Not only does Damon play out of character as a
sociopath, Paltrow too renounces her usually tougher roles for
the part of a vulnerable woman who becomes trapped in the center
of a whirlwind that she doesn't understand. All of the acting is
superb, but it is Damon's Oscar quality work that stands out the
most.

Dickie says that everyone has one talent (Marge's is making the
best martinis) and asks Tom what his is. With deceptive honesty,
he replies, "forging signatures, telling lies and impersonating
other people." Truer words were never spoken.

Dickie grows to love Tom, but Tom is fickle. As Marge explains,
his attention is like the sun. When it's on you, you feel warm
and happy, and, when it isn't, you're cold.

Most of the surprising story, based on a Patricia Highsmith's
novel, has Tom realizing just how good his impersonation skills
are. In a wonderfully nuanced performance, Damon reveals much
 while seeming to reveal little about Tom. Some of the twists in
the plot are obvious but many aren't. The surprises are delicately
presented with subtlety being the story's trademark. Tom doesn't
plan most of his nefarious activities, and the movie has that same
easy naturalness as if the story just unfolds organically rather
than being tightly scripted.

The talented cast includes Cate Blanchett and Philip Seymour
Hoffman as two other Americans in Italy who find themselves caught
up in Tom's complicated web. Philip Baker Hall plays a tough, no
nonsense private investigator. "I don't care for BS," he says
coldly. "I don't care to speak it. I don't care to hear it."

"You never meet anybody who thinks they're a bad person," Tom says
perceptively. Certainly Tom doesn't see anything wrong with his
actions. He has no regrets. And the subversive show has us rooting
for him all along the way. THE TALENTED MR. RIPLEY may be an odd
and disquieting choice for a holiday release, but it is
nevertheless a fascinating one.

THE TALENTED MR. RIPLEY runs 2:15. It is rated R for violence,
language and brief male full-frontal nudity and would be fine for
most teenagers.

The film opens nationwide in the United States on Friday, December
24. In the San Jose area it will be playing at the AMC and the
Century theaters.

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