Film Review

09 January 2009 12:59 BST

Easy Virtue

Directed by Stephen Elliot, out November 7th in cinemas, starring Jessica Biel, Kristin Scott Thomas, Colin Firth and Ben Barnes, running time 97 minutes.

In a nutshell...

Roaring 20s comedy falls flat

What's it all about?

When foppish John Whittaker (Ben Barnes) returns home to his dysfunctional landed English family with new bride Larita (Jessica Biel) in tow, sparks fly between the glamorous American and his resentful mother Mrs Whittaker (Kristin Scott Thomas).

Initially willing to play along with her mother-in-law, Larita decides the only way to avoid a life in the country is to fight back with mind-games of her own.

While she finds an unlikely ally in the shape of withdrawn Mr Whittaker (Colin Firth), Larita fears her past will ultimately catch up with her in this jaunty adaptation of Noel Coward's 1920s-set play.


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To read the inthenews.co.uk review of Easy Virtue, click here

Who's in it?

Jessica Biel (The Illusionist, Blade Trinity) and Ben Barnes (Prince Caspian) are the seemingly love-struck but mismatched couple whose whirlwind romance and marriage in the south of France forms the backdrop to Easy Virtue.

Biel's Larita, a sexy, worldly American widow at odds with the idyllic but static lifestyle of the Whittakers, arrives at husband John's family home fresh from winning the Monte Carlo grand prix.

But while she expects to just pass through to London after saying howdy to the folks, the childlike John becomes ensnared by his mother, played by a scornful/scorned Kristin Scott Thomas.

The acclaimed English actress is perfectly worn as the weary Mrs Whittaker, battling to keep her family together at all costs, even if it means driving her beloved son's own beloved running for the hills.

Mrs Whittaker receives scant support from her languid husband (Colin Firth), who had to be dragged back from France after the first world war.

Katherine Parkinson and Kimberly Nixon star as John's increasingly-horrid sisters, while Kris Marshall enjoys himself as the obligatory butler.

As an example...

"Look at her! What am I supposed to do with a bauble of a woman?" - Mrs Whittaker
"Hang her?" - Mr Whittaker

"The pleasure is all mine." - Larita
[Pause] "Oh, you're American." - Mrs Whittaker

"Is it true you've had as many lovers as they say?" - Mrs Whittaker
"Of course it's not true; hardly any of them loved me." - Larita


Likelihood of a trip to the Oscars

A lightweight update of an obscure Noel Coward play; Easy Virtue is not Oscar-friendly fodder, while its best performances are from Brits unlikely to make an impression on the Academy.

What the others say

"The comedy runs the gamut from quintessentially British dry humour ('I don't feel like smiling,' pouts one of John's sisters; 'You're English dear, fake it,' replies Veronica) to high-spirited slapstick. The film's not staid, as you might expect from the setting; in fact, it's often downright goofy, as exemplified by the character of the unflappable butler (Kris Marshall) and the cruel fate of the family dog. It's gratifyingly loose, and unpredictable moment-to-moment. And it's very funny." – cinematical.com

"The barbed exchanges and culture clash is supposed to create great hilarity. But Coward's 1920s humour doesn't work well in the 21st century and Scott Thomas cannot do comedy.

In a large cast Biel and Colin Firth, as her sardonic father-in-law, are the only virtues." – The Sun

So is it any good?

Easy Virtue is a film caught between its 1920s setting and the quirky, modern trappings of its director Stephan Elliott, best known for The Adventures of Priscilla, Queen of the Desert.

This is best exhibited in the film's soundtrack; the sudden blaring out of Sex Bomb and Car Wash performed in a Coward-era style jarring with the rest of the movie.

The uncomfortable relationship is also mirrored between the two leads, with Ben Barnes and Jessica Biel not quite convincing as the newlyweds. Biel struggles to fill the screen as her American-sex-siren-with-a-past role demands, while Barnes is already on the road to Orlando Bloom blandness. Plus the way in which he tries to draw a line under their marital tiffs by singing his argument is reason alone for Larita to leave him.

Weak leads and an anachronistic score aside, Easy Virtue has its strengths, although most of them are at odds with the source material.

Colin Firth virtually sleepwalks his way through the film as the world-weary Mr Whittaker, but his performance is still unfailingly watchable, and adds credence to the film's strangely-powerful final scenes.

But starring opposite him as Mrs Whittaker, Kristin Scott Thomas comes across too sympathetically; rather the put upon wife trying to hold her family together than the mother-in-law from hell.

The occasional slapstick moments and bawdy innuendo also grate (a ten-minute scene with a dead dog and a shovel has no place in the film) leaving Easy Virtue as a breezy comedy with uncomfortable pathos and a confused message of "let's misbehave".

Ultimately Easy Virtue could do with a less heavy-handed championing on its eponymous loose morals and a more steady hand at the tiller. A missed opportunity.

4.5/10

Matthew Champion

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