It's late 19th century London. Algy Moncrieff (Rupert Everett) is a broke hard partying womanizer. His friend Ernest Worthing (Colin Firth) arrives in town to propose to Algy's cousin Gwendolen Fairfax (Frances O'Connor). He discovers that Ernest's name is really Jack. Jack's ward in the country, heiress Cecily Cardew (Reese Witherspoon), thinks that 'uncle' Jack goes to the city to take care of his younger brother Ernest. Algy has also invented an invalid named Bunbury in the country to escape any obligations. Gwendolen is eager to marry somebody named Ernest but her mother Lady Bracknell (Judi Dench) rejects him for being adopted and requires him to find at least one parent. Algy overhears Jack's country location and goes there pretending to be Ernest. The romantic Cecily is taken with the newly arrived cad cousin Ernest. Jack returns pretending that Ernest is dead and hilarity ensues. Then Gwendolen runs away to be with her Ernest which is quickly confused with Cecily's Ernest.From Oscar Wilde's 1895 play, this still retains some of its sense of a fun romp. The cast led by Everett and Firth is engaging and full of pep. Maybe there is a need to adapt the material more to modern sensibilities. It could improve by getting everyone to the country mansion faster and letting the confused misunderstandings stew a bit more. This is a movie going for light fluffy fun and achieves it for the most part.

Hollywood can do what it pleases when it obtains the rights to published works. So, here we have a good comedy-romance that is based upon a great comedy-satire written by Oscar Wilde. It's not really proper to call this 2002 movie, "The Importance of Being Earnest," a "version" or an adaptation of Wilde's original work. For, while it has the same name, this film has changed the focus, gist and essence of Wilde's play.It does follow a similar plot, but has some major additions. It has segments of original dialog. But it loses its bite and running humor by the breaks from dialog and insertions of other scenes. So, the humor here is in a combination of some of the original script that is kept, and some added scenes. The latter include Algy arriving at Jack's country estate by hot air balloon; Algy fleeing debt-collectors in two scenes; and Gwendolen getting a tattoo on her buttocks. These scenes are modern twists that divert the focus from a satire of the time, and turn it into laughs to support a modernized romantic comedy. As I said, this film is somewhat entertaining from that standpoint. But, movie buffs should not go into this film looking for a poignant satire of England's high society of the late 19th century. This 2002 movie has just a thread of the farce. But its many additions and much revision mostly turn those snippets of dialog into individual funny lines or shots at laughter. They no longer have the bite of farce or satire.The cast of this film has some wonderful actors. Among them are Colin Firth, Rupert Everett, Judy Dench, Tom Wilkinson, Anna Massey and Patrick Godfrey. Most do very well in their comedy roles. The two young female roles by Frances O'Connor and Reese Witherspoon are just so-so. Most modern viewers will enjoy this film. But, those who enjoy Wilde, works of wit and farce, or other literary works should find the 1952 film of "The Importance of Being Earnest" most enjoyable.

I'll leave to others the question of whether this is a true and faithful adaptation of Oscar Wilde's great play. What concerns me is whether this work stands on its own merits and I'm happy to say it does. With a setting like Jane Austin, star crossed lovers like Shakespeare and mistaken identities like Three's Company, The Importance of Being Earnest is a delightfully funny truffle. The acting is light and wonderfully mannered. The direction opens things up without getting lost in the scenery. Wilde's wit is always distracting. Aside from Rupert Everett glowering at inopportune moments, I can't find much wrong with this film.Jack Worthing (Colin Firth) is a country gentleman in turn of the century England with a beautiful young ward (Reese Witherspoon) and an odd vice. Whenever Jack goes to London to see his old friend Algy Moncrieff (Rupert Everett), Jack pretends to be his own non-existent younger brother named Ernest. Whereas Jack in the country is proper beyond proper, Ernest in the city is almost as big a scoundrel and Algy. Ernest is also very much in love with Algy's spirited cousin Gwendolen (Frances O'Connor), but the imperious Aunt Augusta (Judi Dench) stands in the way of any romance. Though Ernest/Jack is a man of means, Aunt Augusta can't overlook his lack of family. Jack, you see, is an orphan and was discovered as a baby in a handbag left in the cloakroom of a railway station.Hold on, because things just get more complicated from here. Algy heads out to Jack's country estate and passes himself off as the fictitious Ernest in order to woo Jack's ward. Jack's none to happy to be forced into going along with the deception, especially when Gwendolen sends word that she's coming to the country to be with her Ernest. Two men trying to be the same man who doesn't exist turns out to be too much to manage and Jack and Algy are left to try and win again the hearts of the women they love, only to have Aunt Augusta show up and throw another spanner into the machine.From the schoolgirl fantasies of Jack's ward to Algy's efforts at avoiding his creditors to Colin Firth's adorable turn on the banjo, this is one of those movies at which you can't stop smiling. It does enough to establish the strict social mores of its setting but doesn't hesitate to indulge in entertaining anachronisms, like Algy playing a mean ragtime on the piano. With Judi Dench superbly playing the implacable force driving the other characters to exasperation, the comedic energy of the story never settles in one place long enough to get bogged down in any details of realism or plausibility.I will say The Importance of Being Earnest is perhaps the best instruction into why Rupert Everett didn't become as big a star as his talent warranted. Much like the young Alec Baldwin, there's something off putting about him on screen. When Algy acts the cad, Everett can play that perfectly. When he has to moon over Jack's ward, Everett never looks, sounds or feels quite right.Watching this has made me want to go out and see both a stage production of the play and check out the original big screen adaptation from 1952. That's about the highest compliment you can give a film like The Important of Being Earnest and I hand it out with no reservations.

In Victorian England, two young ladies are convinced they can only fall in love with men named "Earnest," so wealthy Jack (Colin Firth) and his scoundrel friend Algernon (Rupert Everett) adopt that name and the result is unrestrained hilarity. (NOT.) This misguided version of Oscar Wilde's well-loved stage play suffers from poor direction at every turn. The sets and costumes are too brightly colored, the actors are too tanned and robust, and their mannerisms are so distinctly modern that one never believes it's the 1890s. One really vulgar addition to the original has two characters getting their beloved's names tattooed, colorfully, on their bums. *shudder* Colin Firth and Rupert Everett are both handsome, but they don't capture the period and they often mumble, which is unforgivable since the language is the best part of the show. The two young ladies are sadly miscast: Although Reese Witherspoon does a respectable English accent, she has to work so hard at it that it's distracting and she looks very 21st century. Frances O'Connor as Jack's love interest is pushy and unlikable. The real star of the film is Judi Drench who displays the perfect regal elegance and snobbiness her part requires.The movie is pretty boring until the last 30 minutes, when all the (supposed) wackiness of two men calling themselves "Earnest" finally starts to make sense and several coincidences pay off. Overall, however, this dismal reworking of a hilarious play has neither wit nor humor.