Rating: PG13
Genre:
Romance
Theatrical Release: 05/17/2002(USA
Release Date: 11/12/2002
Dubbed: English/French
Sound: DD5.1
Run Time: 94 Minutes
Flags: Adult Situations, Suitable for Children
Distributor/Studio: Miramax
A superb cast brings
Oscar Wilde's classic
comedy of manners to life in the third big-screen adaptation of this hilarious look at fun, games, and dubious ethics among the British upper crust.
Algernon Moncrieff (
Rupert Everett) is a slightly shady, but charming gentlemen from a wealthy family who has a bad habit of throwing his money away.
Algernon has a close friend named
Jack Worthing (
Colin Firth), a self-made man who acts as a ward to his cousin, a beautiful young lady named
Cecily (
Reese Witherspoon).
Algernon has created an alter ego to help him get out of tight spots brought on by his financial improprieties, and when he learns that
Jack has created a false identity of his own --
Earnest, a brother living in London whose exploits have earned him no small amount of notoriety --
Algernon arrives for a weekend visit in the country posing as the mysterious
Earnest. Having heard of
Earnest's misadventures many times over the years,
Cecily had developed something of an infatuation with the lovable rogue, and
Algernon's impersonation of him works no small degree of magic on
Cecily. Meanwhile,
Algernon's cousin,
Gwendolyn (
Frances O'Connor), arrives for the weekend, and is startled to discover
Jack is also there -- except that she knows him as bad-boy
Earnest. So just who is in love with who? How will
Lady Bracknell (
Judi Dench) handle the matter of her daughter
Gwendolyn's suitors? And what's the truth about
Jack's mysterious heritage?
The Importance of Being Earnest was director
Oliver Parker's second film adaptation of an
Oscar Wilde comedy; he previously helmed
An Ideal Husband, which also starred
Rupert Everett.
Everett and
Colin Firth also co-starred in the 1984
drama Another Country.
~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide
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