Rating: 
Summary: Two hours of my life I'll never get back!
Review: I watached this movie with three other people and at the end the verdict was unanimous - it was awful! If you are looking for a suspense packed thriller of a movie - keep on looking. This is definitely not it. I was hugely disappointed. While the plot definitely kept you waiting for something to happen - it never did! You get to the end wondering what in heaven's name was the point. It was a big let down!
Rating: 
Summary: A thought provoking homoerotic movie
Review: Matt Damon plays his role to perfection. While my wife who is a big Damon fan did not like his role in this movie, that only reaffirmed what I already knew, he nailed the role. This movie is a deep, disturbing picture which will leave you with an uneasy feeling in your stomach when you leave. The DVD doesn't have that many extra features which are better than the VHS, just a French version which isn't appealing to those of us who don't speak French. I would rate this as a must buy for a DVD collection as it was the second to make it into mine after American Beauty.
Rating: 
Summary: Confused
Review: The director (who is also the screenwriter, so he gets all the blame) has sanitized Ripley to make him more "sympathetic." Tom Ripley is only interesting when he is not sympathetic! The whole homoeroticism was wayyyyyy overplayed in the media; there's nothing here that will make a literate, half-sophisticated person sit up and be shocked or even intrigued. Put Matt Damon in an ................. scene and THEN you have him really trashing his All-American image. The movie completely lost me when Tom supposedly kills Dickie out of frustrated "love" and then in the next scene has him coldly trying to pass himself off as Dickie. Apparently the novel has Tom killing Dickie in cold blood; now THAT would be more interesting. In terms of acting, Gwyneth Paltrow was annoying. Only Cate Blanchett I got excited to seeing whenever she came on screen. I think Minghella needs to stop making these bloated, cinematography-driven allegories and focus on character, character, character.
Rating: 
Summary: Fine attempt, hurt only by central miscasting
Review: The reviews posted here are almost all one stars or five stars, with few in-between votes, showing how deeply people care about Patricia Highsmith's creation of Tom Ripley. Minghella very clearly brings his own unique interpretation of the character to the film, and thus casts a very gifted actor in Matt Damon who nonetheless isn't very much like the Ripley of the book. Whereas Highsmith's Ripley is deeply pained and vulnerable below the surface, Damon (under Minghella's direction) brings it all to the forefront, making Ripley less of an antihero and more of a sad soul. It's an interesting reading of the character and the novel, and Damon essays the role with real intelligence, but it just doesn't allow for the film to have the kind of scary zing of the original novel.Fortunately, just about everything else about the film is right: the Italian scenery is gorgeous, the period details are marvelous, and the supporting performances are knockouts. Gwyneth Paltrow has been given some flak here for the coldness of her Marge, but it's actually a very well thought-out performance, and paltrow very bravely chooses to emphasize some of Marge's less likeable qualities. Law is terrific (although it's silly that Minghella didn't choose two actors for Dickie and Tom who look more alike), and Hoffman is superb (as always) in his small role. The film's greatest acting honors go to Cate Blanchett, though, who might have given the single best performance of 1998 in what amounts to basically a throwaway role as a flighty heiress (her character isn't even in the original book). Her portrayal of Meredith is nothing short of astonishing: silly, loving, and very vulnerable--her little scene with Paltrow in the cafe near the Spanish Steps is the highlight of the whole film, and just about breaks your heart.
Rating:
Summary: Homoerotic & Heavy
Review: If you love homoerotica, or you love heavy films, this is the flick for you! The story is fascinating and Ripley is played to perfection by Matt Damon (although it appears very few of the reviewers on here would agree with that), but really, Jude Law as Dickie steals the show! He gave one helluva performance-- one I won't soon forget. Heck, the whole movie is unforgettable, and it really makes you think, which is what a good movie should do. And all that homoerotica...mmm-mmm-mmm! I was just beside myself with joy and laughter to see all this steamy interaction between the attractive men in this film. Yeah, 5 stars, baby!
Rating:
Summary: An engaging psychological story
Review: THE TALENTED MR. RIPLEY: What makes this story so hypnotic? Obviously, it is Ripley's character, but understanding that requires more than a focus on its pathology. Rather, we need to acknowledge that most of us have experienced in our lives that awkward and sometimes pathetic characteristic which, in Ripley's case, forms the soil of that pathology. I am speaking of the teen years, when the self has not fully formed, when we lack an established sense of who we are, and when we still half-depend on others exposing us to their interests and activities in order for us to engage the world. For some, this occurs just before the teen years; for others, well into them. At this stage, when we are most susceptible to peer pressure, we may indeed possess true interests without accepting them - or ourselves - as worthy. Ripley has failed to mature. Well past his teens, he does have interests and dreams of his own, but is mostly excluded from their realization. Few of his activities even approach his real dreams. Obviously, the compromises he has made amount to nearly complete surrender. The dynamism, spontaneity, and luxury of Dickie's world overwhelm him. His lack of conviction in his own values and his cleverness at pretending combine with fate to turn his thwarted development into deadly avenues. In essence, Ripley reminds us of those we have known before they developed emotionally into adults. He is not just a financial leech. He clings to Dickie for excitement, for his dynamic personality, for his spontaneity and style, and finally to stimulate a thwarted eroticism. Dickie lives on impulse, unmindful of consequences, unstructured and self-centered. In a sense, Dickie is also not fully mature, but he nevertheless becomes Ripley's conduit to the world. In evaluating this film, the crucial question is how well does the movie depict Ripley's psychology? I say very well indeed. Even if director Minghella's commentary had not revealed the deliberation with which he revealed that psychology throughout the film, the pacing and cutting do so. There is a difference between the early and late sections of the film. The early part creates the feeling that Ripley's external world is unintegrated, whereas the last part makes us feel the lack of internal wholeness even as Ripley juggles his stories to maintain consistency in his lies. Minghella does this by jumping from one vignette of the New York Ripley to another very quickly, and allowing the later scenes to endure longer as the stories spun by Ripley become totally unpredictable. Ripley has become spontaneous, lurching from one situation and person to the next with an impromptu slide show. Minghella states his treatment of the New York scene was dictated by time constraints, but I find it hard to believe he was not aware of the change it implied in the evolution of Ripley's psychology. Minghella reveals this understanding when he states in the commentary that for Ripley, NOT getting caught is a punishment. The exposition of the other characters' inner lives is equally masterful. Here Dickie appears to be an exception, but in fact he is supposed to be superficial, and we can learn little of his inner life. Although Minghella rightfully gives credit to the cast's talents, it is an unavoidable conclusion that as director, he has gotten the best of the stellar talents of his cast. Unlike so many Hollywood directors, Minghella is not full of him self. He chose his actors and actresses well, and has gotten the best from them. The choice of Damon has been criticised, but was, in fact, a good decision. He was well able to convey the fear of being himself. I do criticize Damon's singing, but dubbing would have been worse, costing some of the film's feel of authenticity. Minghella states that Italy itself became a character in the film. I disagree. The film could have been shot in any other place that was a 50's watering hole for American expatriates and made the point of being very foreign to the characters. France would have done as well. The director's romance with Italy is understandable, and because it does the film no harm, is a benign indulgence. This is a film I highly recommend to those who prefer character to action. The story and character exposition are excellent, and interruptions will be difficult to bear. I rate few films with 5 stars, but this would deserve it, except for the final test: Would I watch this DVD again a year from now? Unfortunately, the answer is "no", but only because much of the enjoyment of this film is the curiosity it evokes concerning the outcomes of the situations it depicts. Like many mysteries (but not the very best), the full knowledge of the plot detracts from the enjoyment of subsequent viewings. The DVD too is full of good extras, and deserves a bare 5, my main criticism focussing on the video quality. It is good, but not excellent as are most of the other attributes of this album.
Rating: 
Summary: Jude Law is a great discovery!
Review: Jude Law totally steals the show in this thriller as Dickie Greenleaf, an American playboy living it up in Italy. His animal energy flies off the screen and his demise is way too early, leaving the rest of the film gasping in his shadow. Damon and Paltrow add good support and the story is always watchable, but the film completely belongs to Law. A must for armchair travellers, as the characters travel from Naples to Rome to San Remo to Vence.
Rating:
Summary: Good
Review: This is a tight thriller. Matt Damon once again proves that he can act and is no real fluke. So does Gwyneth Paltrow. On top of that you have a cast rounded out by Jude Law and Philip Seymore Hoffman, and excellent directing by Anthony Minghella.
Rating:
Summary: The hint of homosexuality is over done.
Review: This is a well made thriller with some great acting. Be warned, if homosexuality offends you, you will be offended. Much of the complexity of the film is the result of Mr. Ripley's emotional struggle with his desires for a man who is straight.
Rating:
Summary: Wonderful movie, a disturbing but well done film
Review: I saw this movie and loved it. I am not a big horror/suspense/mystery movie type person, but i enjoyed this film tremendously. It had style. It did what movies are supposed to do, disturb you and make you think. I thought that it was a hard to understand movie, it took me days until i realized the true working and meaning of the movie. I think that anyone who just completley hated the movie should go back and re watch it. I decided to write the review after browsing reviews and finding one with this sentance in it. "Mr. Ripley is a talented, psychopathic, homosexual murderer." The person who write this hated the movie and gave it a zero. What this person stated is true. Its a movie. This is a fine piece of art. It is disturbing and it makes you think. Also, another wonderful thing about this film is charecter development. Today, many movie lack that, but i found that the charecter in The Talented Mr. Ripley grow as the movie progress. It sucks you in. This is a faboulus movie, i recommend it to anyone and everyone.
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