 |
Friday, February 3, 2006
Odd that 'A Good Woman' could go so bad
Oscar Wilde's wit is in abundance in director Mike Barker's version of "Lady Windermere's Fan," but that's about it.
 | MOVIE REVIEW | ||
| |||
View all photosThe tale has been moved from Wilde's stuffy society of 1892 to a more permissive 1930, but that was hardly necessary what with all the gossipy and biased bitchery that drips from the characters' snooty noses.
Despite an exceptional cast -- Oscar-winner Helen Hunt, Oscar-nominee Tom Wilkinson and burgeoning star Scarlett Johansson -- the film never takes flight. "A Good Woman" was made in 2004 and that makes me wonder if it's only being released to capitalize on Johansson's move up the ranks.
She plays Meg Windermere, the proud and proper American wife of up-and-coming politician Robert Windermere (Mark Umbers). The couple's social circle includes Lord Augustus, or "Tuppy" (Wilkinson), and the gossipy Contessa Lucchino (a playful Milena Vukotic) as well as the predatory widow, Lady Plymdale (Wilkinson's real-life wife, Diana Hardcastle).
The arrival of two outsiders -- scheming playboy Lord Darlington (Stephen Campbell-Moore) and the "infamous and poor" American, Mrs. Erlynne (Hunt), who has slithered out of New York under a dark cloud of debt and affairs -- sets the stage for flirtation, scandal and revelations that prove people are not at all what they appear.
The script, by Howard Himelstein, doesn't do much except to yank the best of Wilde's words and string them into nearly absurd speeches. Do people really talk like this? I think not.
Hunt and Johansson, two usually good actresses, are vapidly awful, teetering out of their elements in this shakily drawn period piece. If the character of Mrs. Erlynne needs anything, it's some hint of mystery and a coy duplicitous nature that evolves into defiant, surprisingly honorable sacrifice; Hunt looks uncomfortable and embarrassingly out of her element. Johansson stumbles within her role as a naive girl who finds herself in over her head after she believes a rumor that affects her marriage.
Only Wilkinson gets it spot on, ascending above a movie that reeks of pedestrian amateur theatrical.
My web site
My Yahoo!
Google
· Stay in DVD: 'HIYA, KIDS!! A '50S SATURDAY MORNING'
· 'Speed Racer': This ride is purely for the kids
· Don't fret about laughs staying in Vegas with Diaz and Kutcher
· Imagination helps boys defy their environment in 'Son of Rambow'
· Mamet's 'Redbelt' raises action filmmaking to an art
· 'My Brother': Political passion stirs sibling rivalry
· Limited Movie Runs
· Seattle Movie Events
· Watch This: 'The Living End'
· Parents Film Guide
· Watch This: 'Intelligence'
· Watch This: 'The Business of Being Born'
more· Child 'Forrest Gump' actor leaving Army
· Uma Thurman sues Lancome in advertising dispute
· Glenn Close's best-known roles belie love of dogs
· Pace picks up 'The Fall,' but won't push it too much
· Portrait of Heath Ledger wins Australian art award
more
101 Elliott Ave. W.
Seattle, WA 98119
(206) 448-8000
Home Delivery: (206) 464-2121 or (800) 542-0820
seattlepi.com serves about 1.7 million unique visitors
and 30 million page views each month.
Send comments to newmedia@seattlepi.com
Send investigative tips to iteam@seattlepi.com
©1996-2008 Seattle Post-Intelligencer
Terms of Use/Privacy Policy
