The importance of being subtle

>> The latest take on Oscar Wilde’s classic is far too brash

by MATTHEW HAYS

Dame Judi Dench rules this movie. As Lady Bracknell, the impenetrable, bitchy, domineering elder woman at the centre of Oscar Wilde’s classic play The Importance of Being Earnest, she’s a hilarious screen presence.

And she lords over this film, the latest screen adaptation of Earnest, precisely because she understands restraint. Even in a play as full of zingers as this one is notorious for, less should mean more. For example, when the script requires Bracknell to state the line, “London society is full of women of the very highest birth who have, of their own free choice, remained 35 for years,” the line needs dry, British reserve, not overstatement.

Pity about the rest of the cast then. Colin Firth, Reese Witherspoon, Rupert Everett and Frances O’Connor all wink, nod, mug and mince their way through this beautifully-shot production. Yes, they do constitute what one would call a name cast, but really, their overstated expressions seem far better suited to the stage than film in this comedy of courtship woes, mistaken identities and name changes.

Instead, we get plenty of overdone airs, clumsy physical comedy—much of it enough to inspire groans. Witherspoon looks like she’s in Legally Blonde territory while Everett looks as though he’s still foiling Inspector Gadget. Turn down the volume a notch or two, mates, you’re at somewhere over 11 on the acting-decibel scale.

Director Oliver Parker (An Ideal Husband) has done a commendable job of opening up the action. While the stage-to-screen adaptation trend has been to re-block the same space on a soundstage, making the theatrical roots of the work clear, Parker instead opts for different locales, a good deal of movement and even some keen fantasy sequences.
But he forgot to rein in his cast, who compete to see who can dine on the most scenery. Next time, he should watch Dame Dench more closely. She knows how to handle Wilde territory. :

The Importance of Being Earnest opens Friday, May 24