The movie's attempt to update the play from Victorian England to 1930s Italy is so clumsy, tedious and pleased with itself that you wish Wilde himself would return from the dead to fire a few cogent, lethal bon mots at its backside.
A Good Woman (2005)
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Reviews Counted:79
Fresh:30
Rotten:49
Average Rating:5.3/10
Consensus: This adaptation of Wilde's Lady Windermere's Fan lacks bite due to liberties taken with the source material, coupled with uneven performances.
Rated: PG [See Full Rating] for thematic material, sensuality and language
Runtime: 1 hr 33 mins
Genre: Comedies
Theatrical Release:Feb 3, 2006 Limited
Box Office: $97,060
Synopsis: Helen Hunt and Scarlett Johansson fight over the same rich young man in this sumptuously elegant and loose adaptation of Oscar Wilde's LADY WINDERMERE'S FAN. The setting for the action is moved... Helen Hunt and Scarlett Johansson fight over the same rich young man in this sumptuously elegant and loose adaptation of Oscar Wilde's LADY WINDERMERE'S FAN. The setting for the action is moved from Victorian England's parlors to Italy's gorgeous Amalfi coast in the early 1930's. A vacationing American couple, the Windermeres (Johansson and Mark Umbers), meet scandal when caught up in a web of expatriate British slander after Mr. Windermere apparently starts having an affair with the notorious gold-digger, Mrs. Erlynne (Hunt). Meanwhile, the debauched Lord Darlington (Stephen Campbell Moore) takes it upon himself to comfort the tearful and lovely Mrs. Windermere, and Tuppy (Tom Wilkinson), an older member of the British circle, sees there's a sweet woman being hurt by all the malicious gossip and falls for Mrs. Erlynne himself. The gossip may be malicious, but no one writes it as well as Wilde, and here his famed quips--many flown in from other plays--flourish in wild abundance. Johansson is a knockout, and there are lots of elegant costumes and intricately decorated Italian villas, all captured in an enticingly dusky cinematographic style. Performances vary in stylistic approach, with Wilkinson carrying the day as the well-intentioned, self-effacing Tuppy, the vulnerable human center of this dizzying ring of barbed witticisms and elegant subterfuge. [More]
Starring: Helen Hunt, Scarlett Johansson, Tom Wilkinson, Stephen Moore
Starring: Helen Hunt, Scarlett Johansson, Tom Wilkinson, Stephen Moore, Stephen Campbell Moore, Mark Umbers, John Standing
Director: Mike Barker
Director: Mike Barker
Story: Oscar Wilde
Screenwriter: Howard Himelstein
Composer: Richard G. Mitchell
Studio: Lions Gate Films
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Reviews for A Good Woman
A stunning setting, clever dialogue, gorgeous period costumes by John Bloomfield (he did last year's Being Julia) and a honey of a performance by Wilkinson as a practical man of great means who sees nothing wrong in being wanted for his money.
Wilde himself would have rolled his eyes at Mike Barker’s shallow effort to spiff up the play for transatlantic markets.
Passionate flair periodically turns theatrical but a snappy twist of a climax marks this social satire with a scarlet A for effort.
Just when you thought it was safe to go back to the movies -- The Return Of Helen Hunt!
This Good Woman is an amiable drama queen, sluggish of gait and reliant on retail therapy.
Although the narrative of A Good Woman exists primarily as an excuse for Wilde's dialogue, it works well enough to satisfy in its own right.
Except for the expert Tom Wilkinson as Tuppy, a wealthy swain of Stella's, the acting ranges from amateurish to atrocious.
Opaque in its approach, the film is almost redeemed by its hilarious Wildean one-liners, even if delivered shakily.
A sprightly version of Oscar Wilde's witty play Lady Windermere's Fan that is filled with clever lines on the complications of sex and marriage.
A triumph of costume design, A Good Woman is also a toothless dog with little internal momentum.
Beautifully adapted, ravishingly filmed and perfectly performed, this movie oozes class from every frame.
Scarlett Johansson displays the same aptitude for period drama that she showed in Girl With A Pearl Earring
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| 77% 77% | The Hangover |
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