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Harvey Karten's Reviews

Review: Easy Virtue

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#1 of 1 Posted 4/21/09 10:37 PM

From harveykarten Posts 798 Last Feb-7
To All [Msg # 23803.1 ]

EASY VIRTUE

Sony Pictures Classics
Reviewed for CompuServe by Harvey Karten
Grade: B+
Directed by: Stephen Elliott
Written By: Stephen Elliott, Sheridan Jobbins, from Noel Coward’s play
Cast: Jessica Biel, Colin Firth, Kristin Scott Thomas, Ben Barnes
Screened at: Sony, NYC, 4/21/09
Opens: May 22, 2009

They don’t write plays and musicals like they used to. It’s no wonder that these retreads are currently on Broadway: Guys and Dolls; Hair; Hedda Gabler; Mary Stuart; South Pacific; The Philanthropist; Waiting for Godot; West Side Story. New, younger audiences are being exposed to the wonders of the good old days of playwriting. More of the prolific output of Noel Coward would be welcome, particularly given some of Coward’s songs are supplemented by others from more the incredibly prolific Cole Porter. But wait! Stephen Elliott is already on the right wave length with his cinematic version of Noel Coward’s “Easy Virtue,” written when the playwright was 23 years old, showing that Coward had quite a bit of exposure to the conflicts that arise between the old and the new; in this case between Victorian uptightness and American casualness. Jessica Biel in the role of the woman of (by Victorian standards) easy virtue proves to be the breath of fresh air that both invigorates the four hundred acre manor that houses a group of stuffed-shirts and more easy-going alike; folks who are scandalized by a performance of Can-Can by one woman who does not wear the appropriate undergarments and those who applaud wildly for the show. “Easy Virtue” has moments of pure delight, one of which is an Argentine tango watched by folks of the manor with reactions from “that dance came from the bordello” to the enjoyment of tuxedo-clad men and fashionably attired women on the sidelines who watch. The comedy arises from the sparks that fly between a mother-in-law from hell and her brand-new daughter-in-law who turns the culture of the house upside down. There are somber moments as well when new information arises about the American.

“Easy Virtue,” was filmed entirely in the UK at sites such as Flintham Hall in Nottinghamshire, Englefield Hall in Berkshire, and Wimpole Hall in Cambridgeshire, at the time that Amelia Earhart attempts to become the first woman to pilot and aircraft across the Atlantic and Flapper dressers were the style of the times The picture opens in Monaco where American Larita (Jessica Biel) has just won an auto race, has impulsively married a callow youth, John Whittaker (Ben Barnes), and goes follows him to his lavish but suffocating estate—seemingly to prove that there’s a reason for all those mother-in-law jokes. John’s mom, Mrs. Whittaker (Kristin Scott Thomas) looks as though she has come out of a period piece, a reactionary who keeps her Victorian ways, a culture that believes that nothing worse can happen to a family than scandal. She takes an immediate dislike to the young woman, even before she learns that Larita intends to pull John away from his estate to live elsewhere—anywhere but the country--and before she learns of a scandal involving the assertive race-car driver, one which emerges much later into the film. By contrast the man of the house, Mr. Whtitaker (Colin Firth) spends his days unshaven, caring little about Victorian customs—having come out of World War I a different man who has seen too many thousands of his countrymen and Americans die. He takes a liking from the beginning to his new daughter-in-law.

The skirmishes that take place between Mrs. Whittaker and her daughter-in-law are supplemented with the aid of her two daughters (Kimberley Nixon, Katharine Parkinson) Throughout the proceedings, Australian director Stephen Elliott, known here mostly for “The Adventures of Priscilla, Queen of the Desert” (two drag queens and a transsexual get a cabaret gig in the middle of the desert), brings in tunes from Cole Porter such as his 1932 song “Mad About the Boy” as well as some Noel Coward tunes with Charlotte Walter’s gorgeous costumes confirming the period. The dialogue’s the thing, ultimately, with most of the barbs coming from the mother-in-law (who else?) with Larita’s responses a cool as those of Obama during the vituperations of the last presidential campaign. Happily, though, Larita emerges with appropriate comebacks during the literally smashing final scenes.

A side roles that deserves special mention is that of Kris Marshall as a subversive butler whose facial expressions when just beyond view of the family resemble those of a woman who has trapped a skunk instead of a fox, the butler and the father-in-law being the only ones to support the American’s spirit. Some CGI is used during a fox hunt. All in all, Noel Coward, who left us in 1964, would have had a marvelous time.

Unrated. 98 minutes. © 2009 by Harvey Karten Member: NY Film Critics Online

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Harvey Karten's Reviews

Review: Easy Virtue

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