The Talented Mr. Ripley (1999)

THE TALENTED MR. RIPLEY  (1999)  ¢ ¢ ¢ 1/2
    D: Anthony Minghella
    Matt Damon, Jude Law, Gwyneth Paltrow,
    Cate Blanchett, Celia Weston, Lisa Eichhorn,
    Philip Seymour Hoffman, Philip Baker Hall
Matt Damon gives one of his trickiest performances as Tom Ripley, an affable con man whose talent for impersonation and forgery allows him to mingle with the swells. The story starts out with an incidental case of mistaken identity - Tom's a working-class pianist playing a musical gig in a borrowed Princeton blazer - and from that point on it's a game in which he continually ups the ante to see how far he can carry the ruse and how much he can get away with. It's not that Tom's such a talented liar, because, really, he's not. What he's good at is manipulating other people's perceptions, gauging what others see in him and becoming what they want him to be. Jude Law and Gwyneth Paltrow play a spoiled couple who take him in. Cate Blanchett's a girl who catches his eye and keeps crossing his path. Philip Seymour Hoffman plays a pestering cynic who sees right through the deceit. The terrain is F. Scott Fitzgerald, from the idle affluence of the characters to the idyllic locations they idle around in. The story's by Patricia Highsmith.