The Importance of Being Earnest
by Oliver Parker
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DVD details
Actor: Colin Firth, Frances O'Connor, Judi Dench, Reese Witherspoon, Rupert EverettDirector: Oliver Parker
Brand: Disney
Cinematographer: Tony Pierce-Roberts
Writer: Oliver Parker
Editor: Guy Bensley
Producer: Barnaby Thompson
Producer: David Brown
Producer: Uri Fruchtmann
Writer: Oscar Wilde
DVD: Region Code 1
Audio: English (Original Language), Dolby Digital 5.1; French (Original Language), Dolby Digital 5.1
Format: Anamorphic, Closed-captioned, Color, Dolby, DVD, NTSC, Widescreen
Picture Format: 2.35:1
Running Time: 97 minutes
DVD Release Date: 2002-11-12
Audience Rating: PG (Parental Guidance Suggested)
Studio: Miramax
DVD Reviews of The Importance of Being Earnest
DVD Review: Completely delightful
Summary: 5 Stars
Having always been one of my favorite plays, I found this production to be just wonderful. I'm not a movie critic, only know what I like and don't. And I LOVED THIS. The casting couldn't have been more perfectly done. Bravo. Plus - I could replay my favorite scenes, which all happened to feature Rupert Everett. Sigh.DVD Review: Disappointed
Summary: 1 Stars
I love the movie. However I was very disappointed that I bought a brand new copy that just stopped working close to the end of the movie. I found I had a few hiccups trying to find out how to exchange it instead of a return since I really wanted the movie. When email for assistance I found it not be be clear and to the point but really only referred me to the same stuff I had found. It wasn't until after I was past the timeframe that I found the exchange option. My second email with questions wasn't even answered. No response at all. I'm disappointed in the product quality and Amazon's responseDVD Review: Disappointing
Summary: 2 Stars
In Victorian England, two young ladies are convinced they can only fall in love with men named "Earnest," so wealthy Jack (Colin Firth) and his scoundrel friend Algernon (Rupert Everett) adopt that name and the result is unrestrained hilarity. (NOT.)
This misguided version of Oscar Wilde's well-loved stage play suffers from poor direction at every turn. The sets and costumes are too brightly colored, the actors are too tanned and robust, and their mannerisms are so distinctly modern that one never believes it's the 1890s. One really vulgar addition to the original has two characters getting their beloved's names tattooed, colorfully, on their bums. *shudder*
Colin Firth and Rupert Everett are both handsome, but they don't capture the period and they often mumble, which is unforgivable since the language is the best part of the show. The two young ladies are sadly miscast: Although Reese Witherspoon does a respectable English accent, she has to work so hard at it that it's distracting and she looks very 21st century. Frances O'Connor as Jack's love interest is pushy and unlikable. The real star of the film is Judi Drench who displays the perfect regal elegance and snobbiness her part requires.
The movie is pretty boring until the last 30 minutes, when all the (supposed) wackiness of two men calling themselves "Earnest" finally starts to make sense and several coincidences pay off. Overall, however, this dismal reworking of a hilarious play has neither wit nor humor.
DVD Review: Occasionally Resembles A Play By Oscar Wilde
Summary: 3 Stars
Wilde was present at the final dress rehearsal of his play and after watching the performance commented that he thought it was really splendid - indeed, in places it reminded him of a play he'd once written called The Importance of Being Earnest.
I had the same feeling after watching this DVD. The cast is talented and capable but the direction is entirely wrong for Earnest. The director has interpreted Wilde's lightweight comedy of social manners as though it were realist drama. As such the vast majority of lines are thrown away and the ridiculousness inherent in Wilde's script - the self-mockery - is largely lost. Only Judi Dench and one or two supporting cast members manage to push past this misdirection to provide moments of truly comic relief.
Earnest is a difficult play to stage because it reads better than it sounds; but the same is true of several Noel Coward plays and a good director can bring these off successfully so long as the style is correct. One can only hope that Earnest will be re-filmed at some point in the future by a director who understands how to interpret this kind of material. As it is, this DVD promises much but sadly delivers little.
DVD Review: The Importance of Being Earnest
Summary: 5 Stars
Haven't seen this yet, but it arrived in excellent conditioand super fast. Thanks. Sue
Description of The Importance of Being Earnest
Starring Reese Witherspoon (LEGALLY BLONDE), Colin Firth (BRIDGET JONES'S DIARY), and Rupert Everett (MY BEST FRIEND'S WEDDING), here is the hilarious adventure of two dashing young bachelors and the outrageous deceptions they find themselves in over love! Whenever Worthing (Firth) wants to leave his dull country life behind, he makes visits to the city posing as his fictitious "brother" Ernest. There, he becomes smitten with the ravishing Gwendolen (Frances O'Connor, A.I.). But when Worthing is in town, his playboy pal Algy (Everett) is in the country and falling for Worthing's young and beautiful ward, Cecily (Witherspoon) -- while also impersonating Ernest! Pandemonium ensues when these two would-be Ernests find themselves face-to-face and in the predicament of explaining who they really are!Splendidly adapted from the wittiest play in the English language, The Importance of Being Earnest stars Colin Firth as an English gentleman who pretends to be his own brother, named Ernest, so he can enjoy himself in the city without besmirching his reputation at his country estate. Unfortunately, he's just fallen in love with a young woman (Frances O'Connor) who insists that she can only marry a man named Ernest--and when Firth's best friend (Rupert Everett) goes to Firth's country estate pretending to be this same brother Ernest, he falls in love with Firth's ward (Reese Witherspoon), who similarly feels that Ernest is the perfect name for a husband... The absurdity of the plot is matched by the exquisite cleverness of the dialogue, and the performances--particularly Dame Judi Dench as Everett's fearsome aunt--are excellent. --Bret Fetzer
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