A perfect fit
By Robert Hunt

http://www.orlandoweekly.com/movies/reviews/review.asp?movie=537


Whether hiding behind a pair of glasses or dressed in the latest
(borrowed) fashions, Tom Ripley (Matt Damon), the hero/villain of
director Anthony Minghella's "The Talented Mr. Ripley," adapts to
any situation. Changing tastes and alibis to go with the flow, Tom
always manages to skillfully glide a step away from exposure. He's
a sociopathic version of Woody Allen's Zelig, chameleonlike not so
much in appearance (Damon remains boyish and toothy throughout) as
in behavior. He gets his first taste of idle, rich blood in the
form of Dickie Greenleaf (Jude Law), a frivolous American living
the sweet life in Europe at his father's expense. Seeing himself
in the spoiled Dickie, Tom sinks his teeth in and hangs on for his
life.

The setting is the late 1950s, when Charlie Parker's innovative
jazz was new (Dickie loves the music -- and therefore Tom does,
too) and the idea of a life of indolence on an Italian beach still
carried a frisson of bohemianism. Minghella's excellent adaptation
of the Patricia Highsmith novel follows Tom's devious rise, a kind
of Horatio Alger story gone sour. Hired by Dickie's wealthy father
to persuade the profligate son to return home, the shy, awkward and
destitute Tom gets a first-class cruise ticket to Europe and
embarks on a path of ingratiation, seduction and impersonation.
What begins as a ruse leads to friendship, obsession and eventually
murder. "The Talented Mr. Ripley" is first-rate perverse fun, a
witty and absorbing portrait of thoroughly charming and ruthless
young man who will go to any length to erase the traces of his own
empty life. Even those familiar with the novel -- who know what to
expect -- should appreciate the film's stylish embellishments
nonetheless.

Highsmith's novels tend to be placed on the "mystery and crime"
shelf, but that generic labeling falls short of conveying the
chilling, dispassionate cynicism of her work. To Highsmith, all
human behavior is suspect, and all actions, from the kidnapping of
a pet to proselytizing for a religious cause, carry the seeds of
evil. Though her first novel, "Strangers on a Train," was quickly
sold to the movies and became a famous Alfred Hitchcock film,
Hollywood never showed much interest in Highsmith; all later film
adaptations of her work -- and there have been many -- would be
made in Europe. In her 1955 novel, Tom Ripley was a cool, callous
figure who could perform the most sordid and violent acts yet
somehow convince the reader that he, poor put-upon Tom, was the
victim. In four subsequent novels, Tom becomes a happy domesticated
bourgeois, but the events of the first novel and his duplicitous
past continue to haunt him.

As one of the minority who was bored silly by Minghella's multi-
award-winning "The English Patient," I was apprehensive that he
would turn Highsmith's novel into an empty travelogue, long on
color and scenery but short on psychological bite. Such concerns
were groundless: While those wishing to see postcard views of Rome
and Venice aren't likely to be disappointed, the Euro-ambience,
like the subtle period details and the jazz references, are
integral to the film's re-creation of a time when class and money
were character.

Minghella's major alterations to the novel, most of which affect
the second half, underscore but don't simplify its themes of class
envy, homoeroticism and malleable personalities. The film adds or
expands a few minor characters (most notably Cate Blanchett in a
mildly comic turn as an American heiress whose path keeps crossing
with Tom's) and offers a faint hint of moral reproach and pop
psychology in the final scenes that are noticeably absent from
Highsmith but may help make the film more palatable.

With performances ranging from adequate (Gwyneth Paltrow) to
appealing (Damon and the ubiquitous Philip Seymour Hoffman) to
exceptional (Jude Law, whose seductively witty performance as
Dickie captures the novel's sense of fatal attraction perfectly),
"The Talented Mr. Ripley" succeeds on nearly every level: Faithful
to the spirit of the novel but glamorous and fun on its own terms,
it's a film noir with an unexpected splash of color.