Jessica Biel, Ben Barnes, Kristin Scott Thomas

A young Englishman marries a glamorous American. When he brings her home to meet the parents, she arrives like a blast from the future - blowing their entrenched British stuffiness out the window.

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49% liked it

3,224 ratings

Critics

51% liked it

112 critics

PG-13, 1 hr. 33 min.

Directed by: Stephan Elliott

Release Date: May 22, 2009

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DVD Release Date: September 15, 2009

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Stats: 1,006 reviews

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Flixster Reviews (1,006)


  • October 28, 2009
    Jessica Biel is a peculiar choice to play the lead in a jazzy adaptation of a Noel Coward play, to say the least. The Hollywood starlet sticks out like a sore thumb - and although that is very much the point, one can only wonder what the film would've been with a more fitting and...( read more) diverse lead. Nevertheless, the odd casting is mostly forgiven with some good supporting performances and a humorous script.

    "Easy Virtue" is an adaptation of a 1924 play by Noel Coward. It was first committed to film in 1928 by Alfred Hitchcock, although that effort is considered a loose adaptation at best (Hitchcock's film is silent, while Coward was well known for his witty dialogue exchanges). Director Stephan Elliott, whose body of work includes "The Adventures of Priscilla, Queen of the Desert", lets the dialogue take center stage and mostly stays true to the period, although a few stylistic flourishes, such as a soundtrack the includes modern interpretations of "Sex Bomb" and "Car Wash" in the jazzy sound of the 1920's, frequently interrupts the tone.

    In 1920's England, the handsome young son of the wealthy Whittaker family, John (Ben Barnes, Prince Caspian from the "Narnia" series), returns home with his new American wife, Larita (Jessica Biel). She is older than John, and also an American celebrity due to her successful career as a race car driver. Unsurprisingly, this flamboyant free spirit is deemed uncivilized to the Whittaker's strict matriarch, Veronica (Kristen Scott Thomas).

    It's your typical story of conservative manners vs. free-living youngsters, but the wild tone of this one makes it, at the very least, more interesting than your typical modern period piece. The soundtrack can be abrasive, particularly the aforementioned contemporary cover songs, but at other points the loudness of the soundtrack adds to the sort of self-conciously cheesy tone of the entire picture. In fact, everything is so exaggerated that the audience is likely to resist when it tries to take itself too seriously.

    Colin Firth plays Scott Thomas' husband, and his is the best performance of the film. He, unlike John's mother, feels Larita has added much-needed life to the family. Biel's performance is simply functional throughout, but in her scenes with Firth it's clear that he takes he brings out the best in her.

    "Easy Virtue" is a sort of cinematic comfort food. It's frothy and inoffensive, the sort of film that doesn't leave a huge impression but succeeds in lifting your spirits for ninety minutes. It's wit is tightly condensed, and even some of the more broad comic pieces work because of the intelligence in the writing. While nothing worth goin
  • October 12, 2009
    At first I was frustrated by the stuffiness, but was later met with a quite developed examination of character and story. I ended up really liking it.
  • November 11, 2008
    I thought it would never end, only worth seeing for Kristen Scott Thomas, and if you're still not particularly convinced that Jessica Biel can act. As a periodical comedy piece I had my preservations before going in, to right they were, the laughs are pretty sparing, story not a ...( read more)whole lot there, and no chemistry between Barnes and Biel.
  • May 7, 2009
    id give it 3/5 and that might be marking it a little bit high. there was nothing particularly great about the movie. it was a pretty slow going story and sort of aggrivating. Jessica Biel was great in it. I expected just a little bit more out of Colin Firth. Its worth maybe one w...( read more)atch if theres nothing else you would like to see. Definitely not going to watch it multiple times however.
  • April 3, 2009
    Tries too hard to be a mixture of Noel Coward, Oscar Wilde and an Ealing farce. Still, it's always nice to see upper class Britishness turned inside out, a rebellious Colin Firth and an unpredictable ending.
  • November 7, 2009
    I guess there was no better end
  • October 26, 2009
    It is easy to fall for this sophiscated light weighted comedy, mocking at the hyprocisy of the British in the 20s. Witty one liner are aplenty as typically found in material originated from a play. Super cool Jessica Biel lights up the screen whenever she appears, making many wom...( read more)en wonder why god is so unfair, creating some people with special care.
    One question: the sound track 'sex bomb' does not belongs to the era of the 20s, right?
  • October 23, 2009
    Realmente sorprendido y si esto es un remake ya quiero ver la versin original que debe estar muy bien.
    Me encanto el amor es uno de los mejores temas y es el sentimiento que da pie a esta pelcula que resulta mas que entretenida, me ha gustado mucho pero le hace flato algo tal v...( read more)ez tomarse un poco en serio
  • October 22, 2009
    sorry.so long no online.haha.
  • October 20, 2009
    Add a review (optional)...

Critic Reviews


June 5, 2009
Steven Rea, Philadelphia Inquirer

Full of forced jocularity and drawing-room hissy fits, with its cast parading around in vintage threads and antique cars, Easy Virtue is a close-to-insufferable souffle based on the 1925 Noel Coward p... full review

May 29, 2009
Mick LaSalle, San Francisco Chronicle

[Director] Elliott had a choice in Easy Virtue, to turn away from the horror or face it. He takes his time, but he eventually does face it -- and delivers up a good movie. full review

May 28, 2009
Bob Mondello, NPR

There's supposed to be some distance between the main character and the family she marries into — but that distance probably shouldn't include acting styles. full review

May 28, 2009
Ty Burr, Boston Globe

Those coming in cold may be forgiven for thinking they've wandered into Atonement remade as a farce. full review

May 28, 2009
Liam Lacey, Globe and Mail

Easy Virtue has enough traces of Coward's wit to keep you hoping for the first hour or so, but then the film collapses under the weight of too many misguided innovations. full review

May 28, 2009
Roger Ebert, Chicago Sun-Times

Unusually for a play by Noel Coward, Love struggles while conquering All in Easy Virtue, a subversive view of British country-house society between the wars. full review

May 22, 2009
Marcy Dermansky, About.com

A painfully unfunny flop. full review

May 22, 2009
Claudia Puig, USA Today

Goes down as light and fizzily as a flute of Champagne tossed back in an airy drawing room. full review

May 22, 2009
Peter Travers, Rolling Stone

The elegant barbed wit of Noel Coward bubbling up in a time of Wolverine grunts. I must be dreaming. full review

May 20, 2009
Armond White, The New York Press

[Elliott] tends toward camp, yet respects Coward's light sentiment (and pays homage to Ealing Studios' genteel tradition). full review

View more Easy Virtue reviews at RottenTomatoes.com

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