A millionaire, Mr. Greenleaf (James Rebhorn) has a problem - his son, Dickie (Jude Law) is living a luxurious life in Italy with his fiancé, Marge (Gwyneth Paltrow), and he doesn't want to come back home to New York.  So Mr. Greenleaf tells a young man named Tom Ripley (Matt Damon) that he will pay him a thousand dollars to travel to Italy, and bring his son back.

It all seems a simple enough matter, except that Tom Ripley is not content with his present life - being a nobody.  When he reaches Italy, he becomes good friends with Dickie and Marge, but gradually, he begins coveting Dickie's lifestyle and soon, he begins assuming Dickie's identity.  It starts off as a bit of harmless fun, things like using Dickie's name to book rooms in hotels, etc., but then the twists in the movie start.

The movie took it's time getting started, I felt - the first half of the movie was leisurely paced, introducing us to the characters and setting up various events and situations that would be made use of later.  But it was interesting nevertheless.  Once the twists started though, (notably, after one particular important event which I cannot reveal here) things moved quickly upto the conclusion.

Overall, I had a good time watching this movie (although I thought it was a bit long), I liked both Gwyneth Paltrow and Jude Law in their roles, and it was fun watching Matt Damon show off his character's "talent" of the title.  The movie had a nice scenic look throughout, and is a classy sort of thriller.  It is definitely worth watching more than once.

Running Time: 139 minutes | Country: US | Genre: Drama/Thriller