The Importance of Being Earnest

2002

Action / Comedy / Drama / Romance

11
Rotten Tomatoes Critics - Rotten 57% · 115 reviews
Rotten Tomatoes Audience - Upright 72% · 25K ratings
IMDb Rating 6.8/10 10 25772 25.8K

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Director

Oliver Parker Photo
Oliver Parker

Top cast

Colin Firth Photo
Colin Firth as Jack
Reese Witherspoon Photo
Reese Witherspoon as Cecily
Cyril Shaps Photo
Cyril Shaps as Pew Opener
Judi Dench Photo
Judi Dench as Lady Bracknell
720p.BLU 1080p.BLU
862.56 MB
1280*544
English 2.0
NR
Subtitles
23.976 fps
1 hr 33 min
Seeds 10
1.67 GB
1920*816
English 5.1
NR
Subtitles
23.976 fps
1 hr 33 min
Seeds 19

Movie Reviews

Reviewed by kmercialmail 7 / 10

A Solid Adaptation and Better than Everyone Else Seems to Claim

From reading these reviews, it appears that many of them find this to be the inferior film adaptation of Oscar Wilde's play. However, they appear to contain "Older-itis," which is to say the constant insistence that the older thing is always the better thing. This film is excellent adaptation of this play. Let me reemphasize that word there: "adaptation." Contrary to what many of the people in these reviews think, this film is not meant to be and does not have to be an exact performance of Oscar Wilde's script. The writers, cast, and director did an excellent job of taking "The Importance of Being Earnest" and making it their own creation without utterly disrespecting the source material like some film adaptations of plays sometimes do. Rather, I believe it IMPROVES Oscar Wilde's original vision by keeping what everyone loves about the original play and expanding on the lacking aspects of it. The cast of "The Importance of Being Earnest" is delightful; Colin Firth and Rupert Everett (Jack/Earnest and Algernon respectively) have fabulous chemistry and work off of each other to great effect. Reese Witherspoon plays her character marvelously, as do many of the other cast members. The line delivery is good, perfectly suited for the kind of dry humor and wry wit this play excels at. Speaking of the characters, this film does a fabulous job of expanding on characters that were disappointingly two-dimensional in Oscar Wilde's version. Cecily's daydreams are a lot of fun (and definitely not something that would have been possible in the original play) and many of the side characters that originally did nothing more than act as glorified signposts got their own little side plots and personalities.It wouldn't be right of me to just carry on praising this movie without acknowledging certain downfalls this movie possesses. Perhaps greatest of all is the nonstop wit present. As funny and as clever as it all is, there is a point where starts to become tiresome and old, leaving one wishing for a bit of dialogue that doesn't contain some wry remark or snarky comment. This was a problem with the original play as well, but it becomes more apparent in this movie due to the lack of variety and visual interest in these scenes; most of them consist of people standing around and talking to each other, and when they all are saying the same things it can get a tad boring. Aside from this issue, as well as a few quirks that date this movie to the 2000s, there are no glaring problems that ruin this movie. It's not my first choice (I had to watch it for school), but I'm sure it would be of interest to a large host of viewers; those especially partial to Jane Austen might find the wit and satire of this movie appealing (plus Colin Firth was in "Pride & Prejudice" and now appears here). It's a decent film and is a perfectly adequate version of "The Importance of Being Earnest" in full color and good sound. If you're reading this review then you probably are trying to decide if you should watch this movie. If so, then I would say, "Yes, go ahead." Thus ends my review. Thank you.
Reviewed by Reb9 7 / 10

A creative effort with some hits and some misses.

The Importance of Being Earnest is one of the wittiest plays in the English language. I think I know it fairly well, having directed it once and performed in it once (Alegernon). Great plays cannot be forever preserved in Amber, never to change, always mounted in the same ways and subject to the same old readings. In this film the director has attempted to bring Wilde's wicked wit to a contemporary audience, many of whom have not been taught how to think. Did he go too far at time? By all means. I agree that even a free thinking Gwendolyn would never get a tattoo, particularly on her back side. Nor would Jack nee Earnest. Suggesting that Lady Bracknell had been plucked from the world of the music hall was totally wrong. Most of the other changes served Wilde very well however. Like Shakespeare, Oscar Wilde's writing can survive tinkering by the gifted as well as by hacks. This version is not the work of a hack. Go for it!!
Reviewed by Cohi 8 / 10

Great fun...

I watched this with low expectations, but I was very pleasantly surprised! The whole film has an air of absurdity, but without quite crossing the line of impossibility. Everett and Firth are perfect and extremely watchable as Jack and Algie, while Reese Witherspoon is delightful as Cecily. I love the surreal sense as her daydreams pop up unexpectedly throughout the scenes. And of course Judi Dench is spot on and absolutely brilliant as Lady Bracknell.The film does vary somewhat from the original play (as seems to be what many people are complaining about) but I love the changes. The main differences seem to be quite simply the fact that in the film the conversations take place in different settings to the play, however this is because it is far easier to do this on screen than on stage, and it makes for far more interesting viewing in my opinion. As for the script it is, for the most part, almost word for word the same as the original.This is a wonderful, fun film that I would recommend anyone to watch for some light hearted amusement, just don't try to take it too seriously and you'll love it!
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