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Rating:  - The discomforting Mr. Ripley
This film - like the others directed by the brilliant Anthony Minghella - manages yet again to crawl under one's skin of comfort, and creates brooding emotions of empathy and revolt.
Tom Ripley - like most of the others - is a very complex character: the idealist genius with the non-ideal background, yearning for more. As a simple lie pulls him into the world of the rich and glamorous, he finds himself trapped by the intoxication of this faux success, as he mentioned to his lover with tears streaming from his anguished face: it's better to be a fake somebody, than a real nobody. It eventually leads to murder upon murder, as Tom cannot escape his yearning for acknowledgement.
Matt Damon portays Mr. Ripley beautifully as he quietly 'dies' behind a mask of happiness. The supporting cast is excellent, and the boat-scene between Damon and Law being grippingly brilliant.
Yet again - choosing his old time favourite - Minghella chooses Gabriel Yared to score the film, and it finishes off 'Mr. Ripley' with emotional style.
Although not an easy film to watch, it remains one of my favourites.
Rating: - Brilliantly Done
Great film, with much suspense and a richly atmospheric background.
All the leads and co stars give great performances.
A wonderful end of the decade and end of the millennial motion picture.
Rating: - "Tell me something good about Tom Ripley": this film!
I am not exactly sure why, but I have really grown to love this film over the years,rather than the nebulous feeling I had about it when it was a theatrical release.Probably because I just saw the other "Ripley" film,RIPLEY'S GAME and felt rather blah about it is my most current response.Whatever it is, Matt Damon and Anthony Minghella's taught script and direction riveted me to the sofa.What a vacuum of a character Patricia Highsmith created in her 1955 novel.What I think is great about this adaptation is the way in which Damon presents Ripley as a "master sponge" who can soak up any personality around him and then discard the original host thus becoming less the original Ripley and more now a new creation.In one of the last lines of the film,Ripley turns to his friend/"lover" and sobs,"Tell me something good about Tom Ripley." Matt Damon's performance is what is good about Tom Ripley.I am glad that I have gone back to this film over the years.With a supporting cast like Cate Blanchett,Philip Seymour Hoffman,Jude Law and to a still lesser degree Gwyneth Paltrow,and a soundtrack that moves to the nth degree by Gabriel Yared,this is a Minghella film that grips me.I now can safely assert the 5 star rating! LOVE IT!
Rating:  - Bloated, meandering and overall boring
Two stars only for the perfect pitch casting. Because space is limited, let me just toss out the most egregious elements of the movie:
* God this movie was long;
* no Americans except people who think movies are art (these are the people who drink espresso and hold the semi demitasse cups with a thumb and index finger) care to see a movie about class tensions;
* the protagonist should not be markedly stupider than the audience. Anyone who wasn't yelling "Get the hell out of Rome" after Tom runs into Meredith is probably dumb enough to think this is a great movie;
* Exactly why should the movie end after Tom's third murder, as opposed to the second, or even the first? There's no rhyme or reason to that particular place to end the movie.
Rating: - A sympathetic killer
It's difficult to make a viewer feel sorry for a killer, so when that's accomplished, it is truly excellent writing. Tom Ripley is a sympathetic character who lives in poverty. He's calm and mild mannered, but when a series of events spin out of his control he murders anyone who threatens his new, improved life. I had difficulty deciding if I wanted Tom Ripley to be caught! Very well written and the acting is astonishing.
Chrissy K. McVay - Author
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