The Importance of Being Earnest (Widescreen)

I don't think anyone who made this film truly understood the play.

If they had it might have been more amusing, because the play is one of the best pieces of satirical literature ever written.

A shame, really. Go read the book.

THE IMPORTANCE OF BEING EARNEST centers around a young man named Jack Worthing (Colin Firth). When Jack ventures into London, he pretends to be his "brother," Earnest, so his dalliances can't be traced back to him. However, on one foray into the city, Jack/Earnest falls madly in love with the very proper-but-headstrong Gwendolen Fairfax (Frances O'Conner). Gwendolen does, in fact, return the love of Jack/Earnest, but her mother, Lady Bracknell (Judi Dench), doesn't care for Jack/Earnest simply because he's not "to the manor born," though he does own a perfectly wonderful country estate. Jack, you see, was a foundling, but not the kind one would certainly find in any novel by Dickens, however. Jack's a foundling who's benefactor left him a manor house, a fortune and a ward, a young woman named Cecily Cardew (Reese Witherspoon).

Jack's best friend is Algernon Moncrieff (Rupert Everett). Being young and unattached, Algernon decides he wants to meet Cecily, so he simply appropriates the name "Earnest" for himself and visits Jack's country estate when Jack is gone for the sole purpose of romancing Cecily. Things are going along swimmingly when Jack returns home unexpectedly, only to be surprised himself by the arrival of Gwendolen and, shortly thereafter, Lady Bracknell. Adding to the hilarity of this situation is the fact that both Cecily and Gwendolen dream of marrying men named "Earnest" (which meant something else entirely in Wilde's day than it does today) and the fact that one of the men can, in truth, call himself "Earnest," though when he appropriates the name, he doesn't know it. All of this might sound like it would lend itself to a rather breakneck plot, but it doesn't. THE IMPORTANCE OF BEING EARNEST seems terribly long and slow going, even to someone who's trying to whittle away the hours on a long trans-Pacific flight.

If you've ever seen the stage play, you'll know that director Oliver Parker has played fast and loose with Wilde's original plot. Sometimes this works in a film adaptation; at other times it backfires. This is one time when I thought it backfired more than it worked. Many of Parker's "additions" simply didn't work and anyone who's familiar with the work of Wilde knows he wouldn't have written them.

THE IMPORTANCE OF BEING EARNEST was, of course, originally written for the stage, not the screen, and stage plays, of necessity, depend more on sparkling and witty dialogue than do films. When it comes to dialogue, THE IMPORTANCE OF BEING EARNEST simply shines. Parker has, to his credit, managed to use all of Wilde's best material and, while it's wonderful and delivered very well, dialogue alone, no matter how sparkling and witty, can't create a five star film.

Parker should be commended for choosing his cast well. Colin Firth is perfect as Jack while Rupert Everett is wonderful as Algernon. Judi Dench is, of course, terrific in everything she does. Frances O'Conner (who was in MANSFIELD PARK) is very good as Gwendolen, but I thought Reese Witherspoon was miscast as Cecily. Don't get me wrong, her acting was very good and she certainly does a much better English accent than does Gywneth Paltrow. The problem for me with Witherspoon was that I'm just so used to seeing her in ditzy blonde roles that are quintessential American "fluff," and, because of that, I really couldn't buy her portrayal of Cecily no matter how good she was. I think she also looks quintessentially American, something this role couldn't hide.

If you're willing to sacrifice plot and depth of characterization for witty dialogue, and more importantly, if you've never seen the stage play, then THE IMPORTANCE OF BEING EARNEST might work well for you as a film and even be a five star treat. For Wilde "purists" like me, however, the film, good as it was, left something to be desired. My advice would be to simply enjoy the film as a farce of mistaken identity and don't judge it too harshly. Just try to have fun.

Having seen a number of productions of the play I think this one works very well.