The Importance of Being Earnest (2002)
Average Rating: 6/10
Reviews Counted: 113
Fresh: 65 | Rotten: 48
Oliver Parker's adaptation of Oscar Wilde's classic play is breezy entertainment, helped by an impressive cast, but it also suffers from some peculiar directorial choices that ultimately dampen the film's impact.
Average Rating: 6.1/10
Critic Reviews: 37
Fresh: 22 | Rotten: 15
Oliver Parker's adaptation of Oscar Wilde's classic play is breezy entertainment, helped by an impressive cast, but it also suffers from some peculiar directorial choices that ultimately dampen the film's impact.
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Average Rating: 3.4/5
User Ratings: 31,531
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Movie Info
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
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Cast
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Rupert Everett
Algernon Moncrieff -
Colin Firth
Jack Worthing/Earnest -
Frances O'Connor
Gwendolyn Fairfax -
Reese Witherspoon
Cecily Cardew -
Judi Dench
Lady Bracknell -
Tom Wilkinson
Dr. Chasuble -
Anna Massey
Miss Prism -
Edward Fox
Lane -
Charles Kay
Gribsby -
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All Critics (117) | Top Critics (37) | Fresh (68) | Rotten (50) | DVD (22)
[An] utterly miscalculated film adaptation of Wilde's play.
Top CriticThis may be a less than ideal "Earnest," but it still has delights...
You might suppose that Oscar Wilde's theatrical evergreen is indestructible. But that would be to reckon without the intervention of 'writer'/director Parker, who really makes a pig's ear of this silk purse.
Wilde subtitled his masterpiece "A Trivial Comedy for Serious People." This movie seems intent on being a trivial comedy for trivial people.
The Importance of Being Earnest resonates and inspires rapid-fire bouts of laughter, perhaps even a few giggles from the author himself, whom posterity has rewarded the last laugh.
Though Mr. Parker's The Importance of Being Earnest is pleasant enough in its casting and performances, it doesn't work as it should.
Romance and deception in Wilde's clever comedy of manners.
The movie stumbles along awkwardly rather than tripping by wittily from beginning to end. The fault lies in Parker's needless embellishments.
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Always destined to be measured against Anthony Asquith's acclaimed 1952 screen adaptation.
The ability to compress such a hilariously complex story into 97 minutes of film is a tribute both to Wilde's astounding economy with words and Parker's mastery of his source material.
The movie manages as casual entertainment, but director Oliver Parker has done his best to muck things up.
Could it be better cast? NO! It?s a frothy delight, true to the spirit of the original, but flavored with the permissiveness of the present.
Audience Reviews for The Importance of Being Earnest
Super Reviewer
Director: Oliver Parker
Summary: In this adaptation of Oscar Wilde's witty play about mistaken identities, Rupert Everett and Colin Firth star as two proper gentlemen in 1890s London who use the same pseudonym with disastrous results. At a country estate, they fall in love with two ladies -- Cecily (Reese Witherspoon) and Gwendolyn (Frances O'Connor). But the hilarious confusion that ensues from their noms de guerre could sink their respective chances at romance.
My Thoughts: "The movie was as silly and humorous as it was intended to be. The film is filled with a very talented cast of actor's from Colin Firth to Judi Dench. Loved the costumes and the scenery. It was an enjoyable film, but not something I would probably watch a second time."
Super Reviewer
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- Lady Bracknell: Never speak disrespectfully of Society, Algernon. Only people who can't get in do that.
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- Miss Prism: In matters of grave importance, style, not sincerity, is the vital thing.
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- Dr. Chasuble: Your brother Earnest is dead?
- Jack Worthing/Earnest: Qite dead.
- Miss Prism: What a lesson for him!
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- Lady Bracknell: To lose one parent, Mr. Worthing may be regarded as misfortune. To lose both can be regarded as more like carelessness.
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- Lady Bracknell: The whole theory of modern education is unsound. Fortunately, in England in a any case, education produces no effect what-so-ever.
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- Jack Worthing/Earnest: My dear fellow, the truth isn't quit the sort of thing one tells to a nice, sweet, refined girl. What extraordinary ideas you have about the way to behave to a woman.
- Algernon Moncrieff: The way to behave to a woman is to make love to her if she's pretty and to someone else if she's plain.
- Jack Worthing/Earnest: That is nonsense. You never talk anything but nonsense.
- Algernon Moncrieff: Well, nobody ever does.
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Foreign Titles
- The Importance of Being Earnest (1952) (DE)
- The Importance of Being Earnest (UK)
