Movie Review: The Importance of Being Earnest (2002)

Stars: 3 out of 5
Pros: Acting, some scenes in the second half

Cons: Added material, random scene changes

The Bottom Line:

Story is so good

Movie does not meet the source

Could be much better

It's Not Wildly Important You See This Movie

The first time I encountered Oscar Wilde's The Importance of Being Earnest I feel in love with it. I was in high school at the time, and it was one assignment I laughed through. I loved it just as much when I reread it in college. Seeing the play only made me appreciate it more. So you can bet I was looking forward to seeing this movie.

I shouldn't have bothered.

The story is the same. Jack Worthing (Colin Firth) lives two lives. When in the country, he's Jack and lives a responsible life including supervising his ward Cecily (Reese Witherspoon). But when he needs to blow off some steam, he pretends to get an urgent call from his brother Ernest in London and heads into town, where he goes by London.

While in London, he hangs out with his friend Algy (Rupert Everett) and woos Gwendolen (Frances O'Connor). Gwendolen and Jack have decided to marry, that is if they can get around her mother. Lady Bracknell (Judi Dench) thinks that Jack isn't a suitable match since he can't provide information about his relatives.

But thinks are about to get very hairy. Turns out the only reason Gwendolen loves Jack is because she thinks his name is Ernest. Cecily, meanwhile, has also fallen in love with Ernest. And Algy is heading to the country pretending to be the mysterious brother. Will anyone survive the confusion to follow?

Not the problem I have with this movie has nothing to do with the cast. There is not one weak link in the bunch, and they all do a perfect job with the material they have. Unfortunately, the material isn't what is should have been.

The movie maintains the Victorian setting of the play, yet tries to break out of the play mode by adding new and exciting locals for the action. Hence, we get scenes with a female character driving (a lady of that era drives?), the same character in a tattoo parlor (again, really?), and a hot air balloon. There's a scene were Jack and Algy try singing to their women to win them back. Frankly, there's no reason for this. The original material is enough to entertain.

Then there's Cecily's wandering imagination. It is in keeping with her character, but actually seeing her overly romantic day dreams come to life again distracts from the play. Granted, there's nothing that isn't in keeping with the PG rating, but it breaks the flow of the story.

The original play is three acts, each act basically one scene. Yes, you could break them down into small scenes if you wanted to, and it would still work. However, that's not what happens here. Occasionally, we get scenes where the characters change locations in the middle of one conversation. I can understand a movie wanting to add locations to open up the feeling, but this was distracting. I found myself missing lines of dialogue as my brain tried to keep up with the frequent scene changes during one conversation.

The worst offenders came during the first act. Once the action moves to Jack's country estate, things calm down and stick closer to the play. During these scenes, I found myself laughing just as hard as I would at the play. This just confirmed for me that the problem was with the extra material added to the play and not with the actors themselves.

I've seen a couple different film versions of The Importance of Being Earnest, and none have captured the spirit of it for me. While this one is okay, my best advice is to skip it and go see the play instead.