Rating: 
Summary: Fun movie
Review: As a fan of both Colin Firth and Rupert Everett I couldn't resist seeing this one in the theater and I bought the DVD as soon as it was released. It's an irresistibly cute story. All the characters are wonderful and Judi Dench was hilarious.
Rating:
Summary: Wonderful movie!
Review: This is a wonderful movie; the acting is excellent. Every single character is charming. Fabulous!
Rating: 
Summary: A misinterpretation of a great play
Review: This is an inventive and artful production of Oscar Wilde's play, but I can confidently say that were Oscar Wilde alive today, he would be appalled at the misuse to which his play has been put. Indeed I think I feel the ground rumbling as he rolls over in his grave, and yes he is actually spinning in anguish.Oliver Parker, who directed and wrote the screen adaptation, simply misinterpreted the play. He focused on the "dashing young bachelors" when the real focus of the play is Lady Bracknell, the absurd and beautifully ironic representation of the Victorian mind who was then and has been for over a hundred years Wilde's singular creation and one of the great characters of English literature. She is supposed to steal every scene she is in and we are to double take everyone of her speeches as we feel that she is simultaneous absurd and exactly right. Instead Judi Dench's Lady Bracknell (and I don't blame Dench who is a fine actress) is harsh and stern and literal to the point of being a controlling matriarch when what Wilde had in mind was somebody who was both pompous and almost idiotic yet capable of a penetrating and cynical wisdom (so like the author's). Compared to Dane Edith Evans's brilliant performance in the celebrated cinematic production from 1952, Dench's Lady Bracknell is positively one-dimensional. The point of Wilde's play was to simultaneously delight and satirize the Victorian audience who came to watch the play. This is the genius of the play: the play-goer might view all of the values of bourgeois society being upheld while at the same time they are being made fun of. Not an easy trick, but that is why The Importance of Being Earnest is considered one of the greatest plays ever written. This attempt to turn it into a light entertainment for today's youthful audiences fails because this play is not a romantic comedy. It is more precisely a satire of a romantic comedy. Its point and Wilde's intent was to make fun of Victorian notions of romance and marrying well and to expose the mercantile nature of that society. It is probably impossible to "translate" the play for the contemporary film viewer since a satire of today's audiences and today's society would require an entirely different set of rapiers. Parker's additions to the play amount to distractions that dilute the essence of the play's incomparable wit. Most of Wilde's witticisms are lost in the glare of Parker's busy work. Recalling Lady Bracknell as a dance hall girl in her youth who became pregnant before being wed was ridiculous and not only added nothing, but misinterpreted her character. Lady Bracknell is not a hypocrite with a compromised past. She is everything she pretends to be and that is the joke. Showing Algernon actually running through the streets to escape creditors or being threatened with debtor's prison was silly and again missed the point. Algy was "hard up" true and in need of "ready money" but his bills would be paid. Gwendolyn in goggles and cap driving a motor car also added nothing and seemed to place the play some years after the fact. The big mistake movie directors often make when adapting a stage play into a movie is to feel compelled to get the play off the stage and out into the streets and countryside. Almost always these attempts are simply distractions. Some of the greatest adaptations--Elia Kazan's A Streetcar Named Desire from 1951 comes immediately to mind--played it straight and didn't try anything fancy. Here Parker seems obsessed with "dressing up" the play. What he does is obscure it. On the positive side the costumes were beautiful and Anna Massy was an indelible Miss Prism. Reese Witherspoon at least looked the part of Cecily and she obviously worked hard. Rupert Evertt had some moments in the beginning that resembled Wilde's Algernon, but he was not able to sustain the impersonation. My recommendation is that you not bother with this production and instead get the 1952 film starring, in addition to Edith Evans, Michael Redgrave and Margaret Rutherford. It is essentially true to the play as Wilde wrote it, and is a pure delight.
Rating:
Summary: earnest is great
Review: another fun movie.. Firth is always adorable.. gulp. :)) love the silliness of this. total get away from it all just sit and grin thru the entire movie.. loved it. loved everyone in it.
Rating: 
Summary: Less Than Pride & Prejudice and Ideal Husband but Entertains
Review: This is an entertaining movie. It is enormously better than the earlier version of it made decades ago. Firth, Everett and Densch deliver the best performances that could possibly be given of this material. This is the film version of the Oscar Wilde play that was written and first performed more than a century ago. I only wish it had aged as well as the films we've seen based on Austen's works. Alas, I cannot. It does not have the same timeless, universal quality to it. It may also really be closer to a B- or C+ than a solid B. It is a very slight, frothy comedy, involving Firth and Everett in their foibles from inventing a fictitious person, Earnest. Although Earnest has enabled them to get away with many things as a built in contrivance numerous times, the tables are about to be turned. Earnest, in fact, would be best off dead. That's the setup for what is a high camp comedy that at moments feels like everyone is trying too hard with the material at hand. However, this does have Firth, Everett and Densch and they do their best to pull as much as they can out of this material. Surprisingly, Everett and Firth sing a number at the end of the movie together, over the credits, which I really enjoy, "Lady Come Down." I bought the DVD; I'd recommend renting it instead. I also have the song now and, ironically, I listen to the song a lot more than I watch the film!
Rating:
Summary: DISAPPOINTED
Review: WAS AN OK FILM BUT NOT AS GOOD AS I EXPECTED. RUPERT EVERETT OUTSHONE COLIN FIRTH AND IM A BIG FIRTH FAN
Rating: 
Summary: Disappointing
Review: and it seemed so promising. First a play that I had read for school on the merit of it being very very short, The Importance of Being Earnest, that I loved so much that I quoted just about every other word. Second Colin Firth...who I umm...have a bit of a thing for Mr. Darcy, or Mr. Firth as Mr. Darcy or...sigh. This film had everything going for it...then it started. Okay a little harsh. But start with the script, the play itself is a brilliantly funny farce, with Wilde's cynical social satire. Which they then proceeded to cut into jagged little pieces. Firth and Everett in the beginning, are deprived of some their character's best lines; most of Wilde's dialogues are cut short before their punchlines, the repartee of the two comes off as dull and disjointed rather than witty. Also some of the added scenes, whether for pacing or whatever, would have been better excised, (such as the tatooing scene which just annoyed me)for Wilde's own words. The women of the film seem to get the best end of the dialogue deal, their dialogues in the country retaining their original wit. The director chooses to pander to the audience, without doing them any service by it.
The acting is also spotty. In the beginning, the film is very rough, most of characters (with the exception of Judi Dench) fumbling around and not really interacting. Frances O'Connor, falls sort of the breathy exaggeration she's shooting for and just comes off as embarrasing. Even my dear Mr. Firth dances between the genuinely funny and unintentionally bumbling.
Things do get better in the country,as the characters get more comfortable. The chemistry between Dunst and Everett works nicely and O'Connor calms down a bit. The script continues to suffer from it's own omissions. Although I'm a slight purist, I did enjoy Firth and Everett's serenade. The ending needs to be watched with the knowledge that it is intentionally silly, it is just unfortunate that the film could not keep the pacing that would make the ending feel natural rather than a bizarre, forced departure. The film did have some worthwhile moments, though not have as many as it should have...leaving you to lament what it could have been.
Rating:
Summary: A very funny movie indeed : )
Review: I'm not too sure why this movie wasn't so well received by both critics and the general public. It may be that I have not watched the play or read the book that may have affected how I viewed this movie. Regardless, I thought this was an excellent movie with wonderful performances by all the actors. I thought that Colin Firth and Rupert Everett had a lot of chemistry together and it really shone through on screen. But I thought the best coupling was that of their love interest, Francis O'Connor and Reese Witherspoon. The scene when they first meet is really well done and immensely funny. I was really in stitches, I had to pause the movies several times to catch my breath. Judi Dench was of course wonderful, she usually is. And Tom Wilkinson and Anna Massey were equally as good. What a great cast though, kind of a dream cast really. I thought Reese also did a good job with the accent, I thought it sounded very real. Even English people say she got it right, so she must have. All in all a thouroughly enjoyable movie.
Rating:
Summary: Loved it!!!...
Review: I'm a huge movie critic because I get into them so much, so when I saw this movie at the store I was very skeptical. When I watched it, I couldn't believe how good it was. First of all, the whole story is great, even without being on screen. I loved all of the actors and characters. The comedy was very funny and I laughed all the way through this show. I especially loved how Colin Firth and Rupert Everett serenaded the girls. How funny! It's great! It's for someone with a wild sense of humor.
Rating:
Summary: For the sake of Mr. Darcy..
Review: After seeing Pride and Prejudice and Bridget Jones' Diary, I caught the name of Colin Firth on the box, and had to see it.
And, I must admit, I enjoyed it. Now, although there are some rather odd parts to it (automobiles, romantic dream scenes and tattoos?!) I found it hysterical. I will admit here that I am not as familar with the play as others who have written more striking reviews. However, after glancing through it a few days ago, I can affirm that a great deal of the dialogue is from the mouth of Wilde.
DVD-wise, the extras are quite informative, including outtakes (nothing missed really) and a good "The Making of..." with interviews.
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