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.

Flixster Users

49% liked it

24,056 ratings

Critics

51% liked it

113 critics

PG-13, 1 hr. 33 min.

Directed by: Stephan Elliott

Release Date: May 22, 2009

Invite friends to see

DVD Release Date: September 15, 2009

Get It:

Stats: 1,029 reviews

Get movie widget Recommend it Add to Favorites

Your Rating



clear rating
Share on: Facebook Twitter

Flixster Reviews (1,029)


  • 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 26, 2009
    Colin and Kristin! Woo! They are both fantastic, Kristin is in particularly top form. Really fun film, with great old-fashioned contemporary songs :D
  • November 19, 2009
    I enjoyed this movie, and I thought the ending was nicely done!
  • November 16, 2009
    Although there was nothing stellar about this movie, it was quite enjoyable.
  • November 14, 2009
    Easy Virtue was based on the Noel Coward play of the same name. We all know that he was witty and talented, but Easy Virtue wasn't considered to be one of his best works - it shows.

    Visually, the film is nicely done. Many of the shots are pretty to look at, the scenery and loc...( read more)ations are nice, and despite the inaccuracies, many of the costumes look pretty. Although the visual part of the film was good, is that really enough to save the film?

    As for the performances, Kristin Scott Thomas never fails to impress as usual. She was probably the best in the whole film. Colin Firth was believable, but seems a little typecast. Jessica Biel was good and her character was likeable, but it was no stand-out. And as for Ben Barnes, he may have been cute with a nice singing voice, but his performance was a bit lifeless (which makes me even more worried about Dorian Gray).

    The film is supposed to be a comedy, but it wasn't directed much like one. While some of the parts were funny, they didn't amount to its full potential, and that was due to poor direction. Surprisingly, this was directed by Stephan Elliott, who also directed Priscilla: Queen of the Desert, which apparently is a great film. Assuming that it is (because I haven't seen it), how could Elliott go from Priscilla to this?

    My biggest probem with the film was that it seemed so unbalanced and this was mainly to do with the anachronisms in he music. Some parts conformed to an orchestral/jazzy score with songs from around the time, but other parts seemed like the film was trying to be post-modern. While I loved the jazzed-up version of Sex Bomb, I don't think it worked in the context of the film. Once it comes to using modern music in a period film, it's all or nothing. You don't switch from traditional to modern in different chunks of the film; it doesn't work that way. It worked in Moulin Rouge because it wasn't adapted from anything, but above all it remained consistent and artistic.

    The film overall was quite forgettable. A good film stays with you ages after you've seen it, but it seems like you'll forget about this one in about 20 minutes.
  • November 7, 2009
    I guess there was no better end

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

Comments


This board looks lonely. Be the first to talk about "Easy Virtue" !

Critic ratings and reviews powered by RottenTomatoes.com

Fresh (60% or more critics rated the movie positively)

Rotten (59% or fewer critics rated the movie positively)

Official Trailer

More Like This


This list looks lonely.
Add a suggestion!

Facts


No facts approved yet. Be the first

Easy Virtue : Watch Free on TV


Easy Virtue Trivia


  • Colin Firth is in the 2008 movie 'Easy Virtue'.  Answer »
  • Who starred in Easy Virtue  Answer »

Video Clips


No video clips yet. Want to upload one?

Most Popular Skin