"I feel like I've been handed a new life," says Tom Ripley at a crucial turning point of this well-cast, stylishly crafted psychological thriller. And indeed he has, because the devious, impoverished Ripley (played with subtle depth by Matt Damon) has just traded his own identity for that of Dickie Greenleaf (Jude Law), the playboy heir to a shipping fortune who has become Ripley's model for a life worth living. Having been sent by Dickie's father to retrieve the errant son from Italy, Ripley has smoothly ingratiated himself with Dickey and his lovely, unsuspecting fiancée, Marge (Gwyneth Paltrow). In due course, the sheer evil of Ripley's amoral scheme will be revealed.

Superbly adapted from the acclaimed novel by Patricia Highsmith (also the basis of the acclaimed French version, Purple Noon), The Talented Mr. Ripley is writer-director Anthony Minghella's impressive follow-up to his Oscar-winning triumph The English Patient. Re-creating late-1950s Italy in exacting detail, the film captures the sensuousness of la dolce vita while suspensefully developing the fracturing of Ripley's mind as his crimes grow increasingly desperate. And where Hitchcock was necessarily discreet with the homosexual subtext of Highsmith's Strangers on a Train, Minghella brings it out of the closet, increasing the dramatic tension and complexity of Ripley's psychological breakdown. Phillip Seymour Hoffman and Cate Blanchett are excellent in pivotal supporting roles, and the film's final image is utterly effective: Ripley's talents have gone too far, and this study of class distinction, obsession, and deadly desire reaches a disturbing yet richly appropriate conclusion. --Jeff Shannon

When dickies father a wealthy ship builder asks tom to bring his errant playboy son back home to america dickie and his beautiful expatriate girlfriend never suspect the dangerous extremes to which ripley will go to make their lifestyle his own. Its better to be a fake somebody than a real nobody. Studio: Paramount Home Video Release Date: 01/25/2005 Starring: Matt Damon Jude Law Run time: 139 minutes Rating: R Director: Anthony Minghella

The Bottom Line:

Though Matt Damon's Tom Ripley is not nearly as interesting as every other actor/character around him, the movie succeeds in being interesting for 135 minutes and is a worthy thriller.

He's a poor young man surrounded by the idle rich. Tom Ripley, played by Matt Damon, happens into the wealthy Mr. and Mrs. Greenleaf at a hotel party. Ripley is an all-around waiter and men's room attendant, who has donned a Princeton University Blazer to play piano for the guests. He is asked by Greenleaf if he knows his son, Dickie, who also attended Princeton, Class of 1958. You can almost see the wheels turning in Ripley's head as he answers yes! Thus begins the diabolical career of Mr. Ripley who is hired on the spot to track down Dickie and persuade him to return to New York. His payment is $1,000.
Filmed in beautiful San Remo, Venice and the south of Italy, Ripley's arrival, his mimicry of voices and language, and his newly acquired appreciation of jazz wins over Dickie, played by Jude Law and his fiance, Marge, played by Gweneth Paltrow. The game is on for Ripley who morphs into any role required, whether it be gay, jazz lover, or companion or the "brother" Dickie never had. Whichever role he plays, he manages to be convincing and conniving. Compelling performances by Law, Damon, Paltrow, and especially Phillip Seymour Hoffman who sees through Ripley's act right from the beginning.
You'll want to see this movie more than once just to find out what makes Tom Ripley tick. Five shining stars for acting, plot and scenery!

Just in case you reach the end of THE TALENTED MR. RIPLEY and wonder why you've become not just sympathetic but end up rooting for an amoral murderer: this story does an excellent job of leading you down the path to murder.

You begin by gaining sympathy for Matt Damon as Tom Ripley, an eager and personable enough guy who has a life of sad, grinding poverty. Through a bit of timing and chutzpah, he finds himself enlisted to go to Europe and persuade a rich kid to come home. The lazy world of the idle rich is a new lifestyle that Mr. Ripley doesn't want to let go of.

It helps us that we discover the people whom Ripley "victimizes" are crass, selfish people with dirty little secrets of their own. Ripley may be a complete fraud in his charade as one of the rich kids partying around Europe--but at least he's doing more with his life than the people he encounters!

This is a wonderfully photographed, deeply textured film without the "thriller" conventions. It doesn't move fast but does turn up the interest as Ripley goes further and further with is schemes. The performances are all top-notch and the locations are stunning. I just went to Venice for the first time last fall and I was still struck at how beautiful it looks in this film.

This story doesn't have the emotional pay-off that THE ENGLISH PATIENT did but everything else that made that movie great is here: the style, the pacing, the attention to details, the way the story unfolds.

One of my favorite movies. Matt Damon's performance is perfect, Jude Law is wonderful and Gwyneth Paltrow is luminescent. It is mysterious, haunting, and thought provoking. The acting is intense and masterful and you cannot help but be drawn into the story. The complex layers of the characters are slowly revealed and wonderfully portrayed.

Wow! Matt Damon was awesome and of course Jude Law & Gwyneth were made to play these characters. The entire movie was wonderful start to finish. The scenery was magnificient! I will watch this movie over and over again. You never know what to expect on this thrill ride! Really enjoyable.