De-Lovely

Christian Science Monitor David Sterritt

The movie is remarkably touching and engrossing, with Kline's spot-on acting and realistically second-rate singing balancing Judd's one-note performance as his wife.

Chicago Sun-Times Roger Ebert

A musical and a biography, and brings to both of those genres a worldly sophistication that is rare in the movies.

Seattle Post-Intelligencer William Arnold

Flies so gallantly in the face of what's supposed to work at the movies these days that you just have to love it.

Entertainment Weekly Owen Gleiberman

De-Lovely is something dishy and rare: a biopic about a happy, and even enchanted, man.

Chicago Tribune Michael Wilmington

Kline, though, does give one of the great movie performances of the year so far.

Rolling Stone Peter Travers

At its best, De-Lovely evokes a time, a place and a sound with stylish wit and sophistication.

ReelViews James Berardinelli

As a bio-pic, De-Lovely is pretty standard, run-of-the-mill stuff (albeit with an interesting framing device). However, as a "best hits" collection of Cole Porter's music, it is unparalleled.

Philadelphia Inquirer Carrie Rickey

This intelligent, postmodern biography from director Irwin Winkler and screenwriter Jay Cocks uses Porter's songs, by turns haunting and hilarious, to decode and reconstruct a life hinted at in the familiar words and music.

Boston Globe Ty Burr

Turns out to be thoughtful, creative, and generally worthy of its subject, with sins that are more of ambition and miscalculation than of execution.

Variety Todd McCarthy

Benefits greatly from Kevin Kline's outstanding performance as the ultra-sophisticated songwriter whose resilient marriage anchored a complicated double life.

The Hollywood Reporter Kirk Honeycutt

A sprightly musical revue built around Cole Porter songs and a few biographical tidbits culled from his extraordinary life.

Austin Chronicle Kimberley Jones

Affectionate but uninsightful biopic.

New York Daily News Jack Mathews

There are terrific performances from Kline and Judd, some breathtaking staging and production design, and, of course, some of the best music and lyrics of the 20th century.

USA Today Claudia Puig

De-Lovely has its moments of delight. Its defects lie mostly in failing to fully delineate what made musical icon Cole Porter tick.

Premiere Laine Ewen

Though director Irwin Winkler takes pains to accurately present Cole's life (unlike "Night and Day," the 1946 biopic starring Cary Grant), the film has its shortcomings. First of which is pushing the love story, when it's clear Linda's feelings aren't reciprocated.

Dallas Observer Robert Wilonsky

Ultimately, it's the songs that energize this highlight, and lowlight, reel; you may forget the movie when you walk out of the theater, but you will do so while humming the soundtrack.

Charlotte Observer Lawrence Toppman

De-Lovely gets hold of a few long-obscured facts but utterly loses the sense of life between the two world wars. I suppose that's progress, of a sort.

Miami Herald Connie Ogle

There are not enough thrilling musical interludes, and few come close to capturing the sly joy in Porter's music.

Chicago Reader J.R. Jones

No movie with access to the Cole Porter songbook could be a complete waste of time, but this biopic of the great tunesmith by producer-director Irwin Winkler is all upholstery and no chair.

New York Magazine Peter Rainer

Just because Cole Porter's biography was botched and airbrushed in "Night and Day," starring Cary Grant, doesn't mean De-Lovely, which is up-front about Porter's homosexuality, is a whole lot better.

New York Post Megan Lehmann

Twinkles and glows, but all the surface razzle-dazzle fails to mask the emptiness at its core.

San Francisco Chronicle Ruthe Stein

A mishmash of a musical. The movie never gels -- despite Kline's nuanced performance, the stars' exquisite period clothes, designed by Armani, and, of course, Porter's great songs.

The Onion (A.V. Club) Scott Tobias

If Porter's songs are so timeless, why does the movie sound like something that might have played on VH1 five years ago?

LA Weekly Ella Taylor

If you're a Cole Porter fan you might like the songs in De-Lovely, but as a portrait of an unusual marriage it's de-lumbering, de-liberate and de-cidedly flat.

The New York Times Stephen Holden

A movie so lifeless and drained of genuine joie de vivre it makes you long for the largely fictional earlier film.

TV Guide Maitland McDonagh

The resulting awkward, earthbound mishmash thoroughly overshadows Judd and Kline's authentically moving performances.

Washington Post Desson Thomson

Despite a subject of immense potential -- the movie's surprisingly uninvolving.

Village Voice J. Hoberman

Openly gay and overwhelmingly glum.

Empire Angie Errigo

Fortunately, the fabulous songs, performed by scads of contemporary artists, provide some relief in an overlong, overdone portrait.

Baltimore Sun Michael Sragow

This new version may be closer to the Cole Porter biography, but it's hardly any more true to life. There is no life in this movie. It's a brittle contraption of a biopic.

Washington Post Michael O'Sullivan

The movie drains Cole and Linda Porter of blood and fills them with embalming fluid.

Los Angeles Times Manohla Dargis

Something certainly blows here, but it isn't the archangel's horn.

Wall Street Journal Joe Morgenstern

A limited movie that can't animate its subject amid all the tricks and glitz. De-Lovely is devoid of life.