Easy Virtue - Jessica Biel and Colin Firth excel in an enjoyable comedy drama
Written: Nov 15 '08 (Updated Nov 28 '08)
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Product Rating:
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| Bang For The Buck |
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Pros: Funny, great performances by Firth and Biel, good cast otherwise, good main characters...
Cons: ... pacing a little off early one, some characters not really developed...
The Bottom Line: Tip for obtaining the best enjoyment of this film - listen carefully for the best dialogue. Great cast, great fun. Firth and Biel are both awesome here.
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| captaind's Full Review: Easy Virtue |
Easy Virtue is based (whether closely or loosely I don't know as I'm not familiar with the original) on the play of the same name by Noel Coward. Adapted for cinema and directed by Stephan Elliot, it features an old land-owning English family - the Whittackers - trying to come to terms with their young son, John (Ben Barnes) coming home from France with his "floozy", Larita (Jessica Biel) - whom he has now married. Though John's father (played by Colin Firth) is fairly tolerant, Mrs Whittaker (Kristen Scott Thomas) takes a very dim view of her right from the start, and tries to make life as difficult as possible. John's two younger sisters - Hilda (Kimberley Nixon) and Marion (Katherine Parkinson).
The family is in trouble of a financial kind, and both daughters have problems with their love life... Marion dotes after local rich boy Philip Hurst (Christian Brassington) while Hilda loves... er... someone she may have once met, and who bears a striking likeness to various famous figures... if only you change their eyebrows... and cheekbones... and hair... etc. Very odd. Larita tries to win them over and become part of the family, but is continually frustrating by her scheming mother-in-law and lack of support from her husband, who finds himself caught in tug-of-war between his family and his new bride. The woman he was always expected to marry, Sarah Hurst (Charlotte Riley) is also still on the scene, though they were never actually in love... or were they?
Overview
Set in the 1920s, Easy Virtue is full of period detail and really feels like a trip back in time, while somehow remaining very contemporary. It rises above being a simple culture clash movie, though there is certainly an element of the American / British device, but it's much more focused on one woman's obsession to save her family - and, perhaps unknown to herself, control it. The characters are interesting and while the younger characters all tend to be a little too shallow, this is part of the point of the whole movie - they haven't learned what life is all about yet. There is plenty of one-upmanship (or should that be one-upwomanship?) between Mrs Whittaker and Larita, and quite a few funny scenes throughout the movie. Though it never quite hits full steam, the humour is very sharp (and often requires careful listening from the audience to get the full impact), and when towards the end it changes pace and becomes more of a tragedy than a comedy, it actually improves. Frequently when films attempt this it tends to ruin them, but here the transition is seamless and the characters have been built up enough for you to care what happens. I know some others who saw the film didn't like the ending, but to me it seemed the only ending that could have worked.
Cast
Some of the acting here is brilliant. Jessica Biel is vivacious, alluring and slightly mysterious as Larita, and her performance is almost perfect (the only criticism I have is that in the scenes where she's supposed to be driving... well, she just looks extremely unconvincing!). I really wasn't too sure about Benjamin Barnes' performance as John... he seemed to be a nothing character for much of the movie, simply smiling or looking confused in almost every scene. His performance was in keeping with the character however; it's just that I didn't really understand John's character and role in the film properly until near the end of the movie, and retrospectively Barnes did a decent job. Kirsten Scott Thomas was perfectly cast as the quietly scheming woman of the house who wasn't going to let anything get in her way, but also wasn't going to be overtly hostile to her daughter-in-law. The peripheral cast members were fine, and Pip Torrens as the rich neighbour Lord Hurst (Philip's father) as usual looks and sounds remarkably similar to Hugh Laurie - and that can't be a bad thing.
The real acting plaudits though go to Colin Firth. Much maligned and often typecast, I've always liked him as an actor (not that the films he's been in have always been good!), though I'll admit his range is a little limited. In this film as Mr Whittaker Sr, the man completely changed by the first world war and no longer caring what happens, and after a short time becoming Larita's only true friend, he is amazing. He is extremely funny in the first half of the film, and engenders a great deal of genuine empathy in the second part - despite a revelation about his past that might be expected to make us like him less. Kris Marshall as Furber, the Butler, is also very funny in his role. But Firth and Biel between them are easily the best reason to see this film - both are exceptional.
Other Information
While it's only rated PG in the UK, I would expect it to get a PG-13 rating in the States. There's no bad language that I remember, I do remember a bit of innuendo here and there. There is one brief bit of nudity, which is why I think the American Film Board will probably see it as more than PG - there's nothing remotely sexual about this nudity, it's purely there for comedic value. (Kind of cruel, but funny all the same.)
Easy Virtue lasts 97 minutes and was made by Ealing Studios and a ton of other associated companies (I think this was the first time I've ever seen BBC Films come up in the cinema!). It's nice to see a name associated with such comedy classics of yesteryear being involved in such an enjoyable film today.
The music in the film was great -lots of Coward's own songs of course and a couple of modern songs in 1920's style (the rendition of Tom Jones' "Sex Bomb" is hilarious). The only thing that really didn't work was that Ben Barnes' character kept bursting into a few lines of song and then stopped... come on guys, either you're going to turn this into a musical or you're not! This wasn't a major niggle but the film could have been even better without it (or if it had been used to more humorous effect, perhaps).
Dialogue to listen out for...
1 - "She's like drowning - quite enjoyable once you stop struggling"
2 - "You're smiling!"
"Heaven forbid, the wind might change."
Verdict
I don't know if Noel Coward fans will be satisfied with this, but if you want a good comedy with some interesting character studies then Easy Virtue is a film that will leave you pretty happy. It's not quite a throwback to the old classics such as The Ladykillers and The Lavender Hill Mob, but it comes fairly close.
Related Links
Colin Firth - Bridget Jones' Diary, Bridget Jones' Diary 2: The Edge of Reason, Nanny McPhee, St Trinians [2007], The Last Legion, Mamma Mia!
Kristen Scott Thomas - Gosford Park, Random Hearts
Jessica Biel - Next
Kimberly Nixon - Wild Child
This review was an entry to the 2008 edition of the Good Movies Write Off.
Recommended:
Yes
Movie Mood: Funny Movie
Viewing Method: Other
Film Completeness: Looked complete to me.
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