Movie of the Day: January 2, 2003

IMDb Movie of the Day
Wit wins the day in Oscar Wilde's best-known and loved play, The Importance of Being Earnest, which gets the all-star big screen treatment in this delightful 2002 adaptation. The king of modern mistaken identity comedies, Wilde's story follows the exploits of friends Jack (Colin Firth) and Algernon (Rupert Everett), both of whom adopt the name 'Ernest' (Jack's brother's name), so that they can have a little fun without sullying their real names and reputations. Trouble arises when Jack falls in love with Gwendolen (Francis O'Connor) and Algernon with Cecily (Reese Witherspoon), and both ladies insist that they can only love a man named Ernest. What are the two false Ernests to do? The efforts of the men to escape their predicament is a mix of laughter and confusion mixed with Wilde's sly commentary on society, all of which is presided over by the watchful Lady Bracknell (Judi Dench). Watching the genteel battle between the men and women is a pleasure, with the ladies valiantly trying to maintain their ideals, and the gentlemen trying everything they can think of to weaken and woo them (including an amuzing scene that involves Firth and Everett doing their own playing and singing in a mobile musical interlude). Countering some of the sugary whimsy of the young people's romantic games is the more tangible, grounded, but still delightful flirtation between Cecily's overly sensible governess Miss Prism (Anna Massey) and the distracted, artistic parson Dr. Chasuble (Tom Wilkinson). In the end, The Importance of Being Earnest is a drawing room comedy of the highest order, a jumbled mass of wit and pith as light as feather on a breezy summer's day. (more)

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