Product Details

• Actors: Matt Damon, Gwyneth Paltrow, Jude Law, Cate Blanchett, Philip Seymour Hoffman
• Directors: Anthony Minghella
• Writers: Anthony Minghella, Patricia Highsmith
• Producers: Alessandro von Norman, Lydia Dean Pilcher, Paul Zaentz, Steve E. Andrews, Sydney Pollack
• Format: Anamorphic, Closed-captioned, Color, Dolby, NTSC, Widescreen
• Language: English (Dolby Digital 2.0 Surround), English (Dolby Digital 5.1), French (Dolby Digital 2.0 Surround)
• Subtitles: English
• Region: Region 1 (U.S. and Canada only. Read more about DVD formats.)
  
• Aspect Ratio: 1.85:1
• Number of discs: 1
• Rated: R (Restricted)
• Studio: Paramount
• DVD Release Date: June 27, 2000
• Run Time: 139 minutes
• Average Customer Review: 3.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (454 customer reviews)
• ASIN: 0792165020
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #12,588 in Movies & TV (See Top 100 in Movies & TV)
• Learn more about "The Talented Mr. Ripley" on IMDb

Editorial Reviews

After the Oscar-winning The English Patient, writer/director Anthony Minghella attempted another tricky literary adaptation with The Talented Mr. Ripley, which features heartthrob Matt Damon cast against type as a psychopathic bisexual murderer. Tom Ripley (Damon) is a bright and charismatic sociopath who makes his way in mid-'50s New York City as a men's room attendant and sometimes pianist, though his real skill is in impersonating other people, forging handwriting, and running second-rate scams. After being mistaken for a Princeton student, Tom meets the shipping tycoon father of Dickie Greenleaf (Jude Law), who has traveled to the coast of Italy, where he's living a carefree life with his father's money and his beautiful girlfriend, Marge (Gwyneth Paltrow). Dickie's father will pay Ripley 1,000 dollars plus his expenses if he can persuade Dickie to return to America. As Ripley and Dickie become friends, Tom finds himself both attracted to Dickie and envious of his life of pleasure. In time, he decides that he would rather be Dickie Greenleaf than Tom Ripley, so rather than go back to his life of poverty, Ripley impulsively murders Dickie and assumes his identity. The Talented Mr. Ripley was based on the first of a series of novels featuring Tom Ripley written by Patricia Highsmith; the story was previously filmed in 1960 as Purple Noon, with Alain Delon as Ripley.

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

84 of 94 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars HAVING IT ALL October 25, 2004

By GEORGE RANNIE

Format:DVD|Amazon Verified Purchase

When picking out films to see, I usually gravitate toward the "small" independent type of film usually avoiding the larger "major" productions. Thus, I avoided "the Talented Mr. Ripley" up until recently. My mistake! "The Talented Mr. Ripley" is outstanding and has, to me, everything a movie should have to make it the "complete film experience"-great script and direction, great acting, wonderful sound tract and beautiful cinematography. This film has it all!
The acting, by all of the actors, is superb. Matt Damon, as Tom Ripley is outstanding. He portrays a very complicated character believably. At no time are you aware that he is acting. This character does things that are, indeed, despicable; however, due to the acting skills of Damon, I actually liked the guy and felt deep sympathy and empathy for him and for his desire to be someone else
(I think we all have been there-at least I have-fortunately all of us don't do what Tom Ripley does, in the film, to achieve our wishes). To me the last scene of the film is fantastic and heart breaking due to Matt Damon giving a gut wrenching performance--the character Tom has finally found someone to love, and has found someone that accepts him as himself but due to past deeds and the need to keep his past hidden, he has to kill the person that could have brought him love and happiness. As usual, Jude Law, as the playboy and errant son Dickie, is awesome. He plays a cad but due to his acting skills you, like this cad. Gwenyth Platrow gives a "knock-em dead" performance, as Dickie's girlfriend starting out as a plastic rich "air-head" and ending up as the only one that really knows what has happened to Dickie when he has disappeared and becoming a completely different person because of that knowledge. Her knock down drag out with the character Tom is great. Cate Blanchett plays a socialite- debutante-type wonderfully. The acting alone would have made "The Talented Mr. Ripley" a great film; however, there is more!
The film has one of the best sound tracts that I've ever heard. The sound tract makes use of Renaissance Church music, so-called "Classical music" "cool" jazz and one of my favorites I (if not my favorite) pop standards-"My Funny Valentine" sung wonderfully by Matt Damon. The sound tract is gorgeous! What impressed me the most is that Matt Damon and Jude Law took the time to learn to really play the instruments that they were suppose to be playing in the film-Damon, the piano and Law the saxophone. One of my favorite scenes is in the smoked filled American-jazz nightclub--fabulous.
The recreation of 1950-era Italy is great and it is shot beautifully.
If you want to have an enjoyable film experience, buy this film

108 of 128 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars SLEEK SUSPENSE June 18, 2000

By R. Penola

Minghella's sleek, gorgeous movie version of Patricia Highsmith's classic novel of suspense is near-perfect. The story, set in and around stunning Italian coastal hot spots, circa the 50s, remains fresh and infinitely compelling; the main character, Tom Ripley, is that fascinating mix of vulnerability and psychotic killer, much like Norman Bates in Psycho. Matt Damon does his best with this role; casting him I think was the film's one half misstep -- Damon exudes such a glamour and self-possession that it is difficult to wholly buy his insecurity, though adding more than a hint of homosexuality does much to make him more believable. The other performances, however, are riveting. Philip Seymour Hoffman is perfection as a smart, slick, obnoxious friend of Dickie's; Cate Blanchett, an added character, is engrossing, funny and heartbreaking, too; Gwenyth Paltrow, often overlooked in the reviews for this film, is spectacular in each and every scene, conveying the privilege of her class and also her near-desperate need for Dickie's love. But Jude Law emerges as a superstar in the movie -- he has the matinee-idol look of 50s stars, and does an amazing job of creating Dickie Greenleaf, that kind of shiny, sexy person, someone who has it all, with a cavalier indifference to those who love him most. The musical score is evocative and moving. The opening credits, an artistic risk, set up, with glossy, hynotic camera work, a film that will often leave you breathless. A thinking man's thriller, one that is not easy to forget.

20 of 22 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars A bloody lullaby August 6, 2000

By Thomas Ripley

Format:DVD

Every year, certain films are released that are completely misunderstood, either by critics, or by the movie-going public and Anthony Minghella's take on the Patricia Highsmith novel "The Talented Mr Ripley" falls into this category.

It was perceived as a suspense thriller, which the trailer did nothing to dispel but it is so much more than that. It is a thought provoking character study of a man so uncomfortable with his own personality that he must try an inhabit that of another man, the unfortunate Dickie Greenleaf. However to do so means a few murders and this is where the film gets its marquee appeal. Matt Damon invests the role with such subtlety that you are taken by surprise - no longer the apple-pie boy of past films, here he is a sad character, and one which the audience feels for, despite resorting to murder. It is a standout performance which deserves far greater recognition. Jude Law confirms his status as the new star in the sky (remember Joseph Fiennes?) and delivers his dark prey to the willing Ripley. And Gwyneth Paltrow confirms her status as the new Grace Kelly - so bright at the beginning of the film but by its end her mood is much more sombre as she tries to expose Ripley. The rest of the cast are uniformly excellent with Cate Blanchett adding to her CV with another brilliant turn.

This is a superb movie and I advise anyone who hasn't seen it to do so immediately. A thought-provoking supremely literate and at times, bloody scary film.