Rating: 
Summary: Excellent movie!
Review: I haven't read Oscar Wilde so I can't comment on how well this film depicts his work. However, this is a thoroughly enjoyable, funny movie along the lines of "An Ideal Husband" which is also excellent. If you're a fan of Rupert Everett or Colin Firth, you'll love this movie. If you're a fan of both, you'll be thrilled! This is one of the few movies I'm purchasing this year.
Rating: 
Summary: There ought to be a law....
Review: The 1952 film with Michael Redgrave was absolutely perfect. This on the other hand is total trash (even without Rupert Everett's predictable one-note camp turn). There must be a special hell for the people who perpetrated this. Why must they try to lure us in?
Rating:
Summary: The Importance of Being Accurate
Review: Any film that boasts, "Based on a play by Oscar Wilde, additional dialogue by" anybody at all immediately goes on my suspicious list. What, a screenplay ready-made by one of the wittiest playwrights of all time isn't good enough? Especially when the "additions" add unnecessary plot twists (Algie getting arrested? Lady Bracknell as a chorine? Hello?!) and, worst of all, change the ending. Rupert Everett exchanges his ebullient and suave persona, so admirably displayed in "An Ideal Husband," for a faded, dissolute air which he suddenly replaces with, yes, earnestness for the final scene. Dame Judi Dench, normally a comic delight, tanks all too many lines by stating them with enraged self-importance. Reese Witherspoon is lightweight--not entirely her fault, since the director cuts her lines and replaces them with bizarre dream sequences--and Frances O'Connor is simply unpleasant. Both women's roles were originally written as supremely practical EXCEPT for their strange fascination for a certain name; this movie makes that fixation the most sane thing about them. I am giving this movie one star solely for the presence of Colin Firth, whose modulated and occasionally exultant performance is as near to right-on as this movie will allow. Too bad he didn't get to deliver his penultimate line as Wilde intended; he would have done it well. Skip this film. Watch the witty and elegant Michael Redgrave version instead.
Rating:
Summary: Most enjoyable!
Review: Very entertaining, engaging and delightful film. This is a marvelous adaptation of Oscar Wilde's play, which is a very witty tale. Honestly, I laughed -out loud- (howled, actually) in the theatre. Most enjoyable film. Colin Firth, Rupert Everett, & Judi Dench obviously had fun making this film and they are a pleasure to watch.
Rating: 
Summary: The Truth Is Rarely Pure and Never Simple
Review: This adaptation of Wilde's play is a froth of fun and gaiety on a bright summer afternoon. I love the sheer cleverness of it and would be willing to listen to the delightful lines even if the characters merely sat on stools in a dusty auditorium. Fortunately, this is not necessary in this sumptuously photographed film. The English countryside is lovely, the costuming is authentic, country estates are magnificent and town houses regal.Two young gentlemen friends, the rakish Algy, (Rupert Everett) and pretentious Jack (Colin Firth) finally have decided to wed, but they have a problem. Both of them have adopted aliases to facilitate their merrymaking. Algy is Earnest when he is visiting in the country; Jack is Earnest when he is visiting the City. Both the ladies know each of them as "Earnest." What to do? When one marries, one's beloved wife surely should know your name. On this slender thread, the comedy hangs when the entire ensemble meets at Jack's resplendent country home. The ladies Cecily (Reese Witherspoon) and Gwendolyn (Frances O'Conner) are demure and delightful. Cecily is artless with a decidedly romantic sensibility and Gwendolyn, outwardly obedient has a whim of iron. Presiding over all is Gwendolyn's mother, Lady Bracknell (Judi Dench) whose laser blue eyes spit fire at the slightest impropriety. My admiration to the cast who carry off their roles with such panache. Colin Firth may look a mite overdone in his mourning be-ribboned top hat, but he carries it off with a throwaway elegance. Reese Witherspoon never just has tea; she is ensconced in a cabana or a bower of flowers, smiling winsomely and never looking ridiculous, as she should. Judi Dench has a head ornamentation ("hat" does not do it justice) that would topple the ordinary mortal; on her it is properly imperious. The only fault I found with the film was the jarring tattoo scene tacked on by some lackey or another. This scene went against the whole grain of the movie. Ladies went nowhere unchaperoned, and far from contemplating tattoos, considered makeup very daring. If you find "The Importance of Being Earnest" playing near you, hurry and see it. It is a "limited engagement" which unfortunately means poorly promoted. If you miss it, watch for the DVD. It will be worth your while.
Rating:
Summary: An "earnest" attempt at delighting the audience!
Review: I have not read Oscar Wilde's The Importance of Being Earnest, so I had no pre-conceived notions of how the movie would turn out. I was more than pleasantly surprised at what a charming film it is! Of course any film starring Dame Judi is worth my time... Her presence is always more than just entertainment, it is a delight to watch her play her characters with a sense of relish and total involvement. Her character in "Earnest" is the complete opposite, of say, Miss Eleanor Lavish from Merchant/Ivory's Room With A View, another superb performance and film.
All the other cast members, including Rupert Everett, Colin Firth, Reese Witherspoon and Frances O'Connor are all quite charming and form a wonderful ensemble cast. Tom Wilkinson is also seen in a small role as the Vicar, where he is secretly smitten with the schoolteacher, Miss Prizm, played by Anna Massey. Another great reason for enjoying this British "gem" is the sumptuous costumes, set design and the beatiful country "cottage" that is the setting for many of the film's most hilarious moments. Ah, to be in Britain in the springtime! Thoroughly charming and a keeper on DVD for sure!!
Rating:
Summary: "All in Pere Lachaise Must Be Turning Over In Their Graves"
Review: The idea of bringing a classic stage play to the screen is generally a commendable one, and if, in addition, the director assembles a remarkably stellar cast, an already favorably disposed viewer's expectations of delight can only be whetted to the utmost. Therefore it is a great disappointment to have to report that the new screen adaptation of Wilde's brilliant farce, perhaps the greatest farce in the English language,(which I saw, interestingly enough, screened before a discerning and thus largely silent university audience) is, to put it with requisite harshness, little short of an abomination. What the film features is a director and adapter of a clearly second or third rate sensibility undermining a first-rate cast while also maiming a work of genius, and showing no embarrassment at having done so.
To adapt a work to the screen, of course, suggests there will be changes suitable to the virtues of the new medium. No one, I imagine, simply wants to see a filmed play, but why the decision was made both to retain a fair share of the highly stylized, frequently absurd dialogue and simultaneously have the same characters indulge in a too thuddingly literal "realism" wholly at odds with the verbal brilliance and surely more suitable to "Dumb and Dumber" or "Bill and Ted's Excellent Adventure" is beyond my comprehension. This adaptation, I suspect, is enough not only to cause Oscar Wilde to turn over in his grave, but also sufficient to cause all the artists in Pere Lachaise Cemetery to join him.
Rating:
Summary: Fun drawing room comedy of romance and mistaken identity
Review: Starring Colin Firth and Rupert Everett as two young English gentleman who both use the make-believe name of Ernest instead of their real names and Frances O'Connor and Reese Witherspoon as their romantic partners, the film includes some wonderful outdoor cinematography of the English countryside. It is also a setting for outstanding performances by Judi Dench, cast as a upper class snob and Anna Massey, cast as a meek governess in love with the local minister. With the exception of some silly fantasy sequences, the movie worked well inasmuch as it was well paced and pretty to look at. The story moved fast and there were some great one-liners that made fun of human nature. And some of the touches that other critics have abhorred, such as one of the women getting a tattoo and driving a car, didn't bother me at all. It just seemed to add to the hustle-bustle and farcical nature of the plot. I found myself intrigued and interested even though I didn't laugh out loud. I'm not one for comedies in particular, but because it's adapted from a classic, I think it's worth seeing. Lightly recommended.
Rating: 
Summary: poorly structured story
Review: This film derives its humor from Wilde's witty dialogue and the farcical situations his players are put into. As far as this goes, it's good. But the film suffers from a poorly structured story line. The opening act suggests that the principal action will surround Jack Worthing's (Colin Firth) efforts to find the true identity of his lost parents in order to win the hand of his beloved (played by Francis O'Connor). But that story line is quickly dropped as the second act devolves into the "who is Earnest?" farce at the country estate. The lineage theme is only picked up again in the last act, and this only by way of a miraculous coincidence. While it isn't hard to follow the meandering story, the film doesn't set itself up to sustain the dramatic tension. Without that, the story wanders ... . A good point of the film is that it manages to erase most of the signs of its theatrical lineage. The film does feel more like a movie than a play. Still, not as good as it could have been. And not as good as An Ideal Husband.
Rating:
Summary: Was that Colin Firth smiling?
Review: It would have been very easy to miss this movie because there was precious little annoucement of its arrival in theaters, but it would have been a shame if I actually had. Everything about the film brings one word to mind...Delightful. I've never read Oscar Wilde's *The Importance of Being Earnest*(though I just might do so now)so I can only base this review on my reaction to the cast and the setting and such. All of which I found to be above standard. The comedy seemed effortless, sharp and subtle when need be, charming always. Colin Firth in particular was wonderful as he has been heretofore classified as a rather serious man(even in Bridget Jones)and his lines were always delivered with an I-know-a-secret grin that enhanced their effect. The atmosphere, both town and country, was alluring. It put one in an historical state of mind(in fact, I'm having a rather difficult time keeping myself from writing this in a rather antiquated fashion.)And the music, I was surprised to find myself enjoying the music so much. In fact, Everett and Firth have a rather memorable duet to their credit. I talked a friend of mine into seeing this film with me. He knew nothing about it whatsoever and about five minutes in he leaned over and asked "what's the name of this movie again?," but once the end credits were rolling he thanked me for taking him to see it. I, myself, am very happy to have experienced Earnest.
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