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Importance of Being Earnest, The
Mixed or average reviews
Based on 30 critic reviews
How did we calculate this?
Based on 25 votes
Read user comments
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Movie Info
Genre(s): Romance
Written by:
Oliver Parker
Oscar Wilde (play)
Directed by: Oliver Parker
Release Date:
Theatrical: May 22, 2002
DVD: November 12, 2002
Running Time: 97 minutes, Color
Origin: UK / USA
Summary
RATING: PG for mild sensuality
Starring Rupert Everett, Colin Firth, Reese Witherspoon, Judi Dench, Frances O'Connor, Tom Wilkinson, Anna Massey, and Edward Fox
A film adaptation of Oscar Wilde's hilarious play about two young gents living in 1890's England who have taken to bending the truth in order to put some excitement into their lives. (Miramax)
What The Critics Said
All critic scores are converted to a 100-point scale. If a critic does not indicate a score, we assign a score based on the general impression given by the text of the review. Learn more...
Washington Post Desson Thomson
The real importance of "Earnest" is the thrill of brilliant repartee. And as we laugh, an amazing thing happens: Oscar Wilde comes alive.
Read Full Review >New Times (L.A.) Gregory Weinkauf
Director Oliver Parker (An Ideal Husband) -- who also adapted the screenplay to include aspects from Wilde's unrevised four-act version of the play -- embraces the material with great gusto, delivering as charming and irresistible a film as one could demand.
Chicago Sun-Times Roger Ebert
The important thing about "The Importance" is that all depends on the style of the actors, and Oliver Parker's film is well cast.
Read Full Review >Miami Herald Connie Ogle
Hearing Wilde's pithy lines in her mouth -- ''London society is full of women of the very highest birth who have, of their own free choice, remained 35 for years'' -- is worth the ticket price. In the end it's Dench who reminds us of the importance of enjoying Oscar Wilde.
Read Full Review >Boston Globe Loren King
A delightful alternative to most current multiplex fare, which wouldn't recognize a juicy bon mot if it tripped over one in the aisle.
Read Full Review >Portland Oregonian Shawn Levy
With all this raw material, it's a puzzlement and an annoyance that Parker feels so obligated to interpose fantastic elements and comic action sequences and other tacky touches. As a result, while this "Earnest" is lively fun, it never quite feels sufficiently important.
Read Full Review >The New York Times Stephen Holden
For all its distractions and additions, The Importance of Being Earnest is still a reasonably entertaining costume comedy. Wilde's satirical voice may be muffled, but at least it is audible.
Read Full Review >LA Weekly Ella Taylor
Mercifully, the supporting cast saves the day by grasping clearly that in a comedy of manners you have to act mannered, though not to the point of situation comedy.
Read Full Review >Village Voice Jessica Winter
Tonally, however, Earnest boasts perfect pitch, thanks mainly to the blithe, nimble actors.
Read Full Review >Rolling Stone Peter Travers
Everett, whose scenes with Firth are a droll delight, nails every sly laugh. And Witherspoon adds her own legally blond American sparkle to this British party.
Read Full Review >The Onion (A.V. Club) Scott Tobias
The film seems content with the more modest ambitions of a romantic comedy, albeit one with unusually potent wit and intricate construction. The old Ealing could never have afforded Parker's deluxe treatment of the material; the new Ealing seems to have forgotten the benefits of economy.
Read Full Review >Los Angeles Times Kevin Thomas
The result is a film that is at best highly uneven and perversely at odds with itself. Luckily, Wilde's delicious sense of absurdity and peerlessly witty dialogue are pretty indestructible, and "Earnest" itself remains a peerless comedy of manners.
Read Full Review >Seattle Post-Intelligencer William Arnold
Great fun, but it's just a tad this side of being overproduced.
Read Full Review >New York Daily News Jack Mathews
Written to skewer the upper class of its time, the script is now just a broad joke-fest, clever lines batted back and forth like badminton shuttlecocks.
The Globe and Mail (Toronto) Rick Groen
Amounts to a complete misreading of Wilde, who used the conventions of artifice to lampoon artificiality. Parker totally misses the point by tacking on such cinematic curlicues -- apparently, in his eagerness to seem movie-friendly, he's too hung up on the importance of not being earnest.
Read Full Review >Philadelphia Inquirer Carrie Rickey
Despite good taste and good will, this romp through Victorian parlors frequently falls flat on its rump.
Read Full Review >ReelViews James Berardinelli
With this cast, this director, and this source material, I expected to be swept away on a wave of enchantment, but nothing close to that happened.
Read Full Review >New York Post Jonathan Foreman
Wilde's masterpiece, The Importance of Being Earnest, may be the best play of the 19th century. It's so good that its relentless, polished wit can withstand not only inept school productions, but even Oliver Parker's movie adaptation.
Read Full Review >Chicago Tribune Robert K. Elder
Resonates and inspires rapid-fire bouts of laughter, perhaps even a few giggles from the author himself, whom posterity has rewarded the last laugh.
Read Full Review >Charlotte Observer Lawrence Toppman
Parker's afraid that we'll be bored by the language alone, so he throws in absurdities.
Read Full Review >Newsweek David Ansen
This may be a less than ideal “Earnest,” but it still has delights, not least of all Anna Massey’s Miss Prism, Cecily’s dotty tutor, and Tom Wilkinson’s Dr. Chasuble, her clergyman admirer.
TV Guide Ken Fox
Everett remains a perfect Wildean actor, and a relaxed Firth displays impeccable comic skill.
Read Full Review >Salon.com Stephanie Zacharek
This well-cast adaptation somehow feels obvious and overblown.
Read Full Review >Entertainment Weekly Lisa Schwarzbaum
The antics are wacky -- but far from Wilde.
Read Full Review >Baltimore Sun Michael Sragow
These actors have a firm playful grasp and a palpable affection for their characters' befuddled dignity and attraction. They understand what Wilde meant by the importance of being earnest.
Read Full Review >Austin Chronicle Kimberley Jones
In all his misguided enthusiasm, Parker has mustered enough bluster to fill up a zeppelin, blowing harder and harder, for something more and more fanciful. But with so much hot air, the bubble is bound to burst, and so it does in Parker's blundering adaptation.
Read Full Review >New York Magazine Peter Rainer
Parker "opens up" a play that was perfectly wonderful closed down. Wilde subtitled his masterpiece "A Trivial Comedy for Serious People." This movie seems intent on being a trivial comedy for trivial people.
Read Full Review >Variety Robert Koehler
A comedy in the last century and a drama in the new one. At least, that's the dumbfounding impression left by writer-director Oliver Parker's utterly miscalculated film adaptation of Wilde's play.
Read Full Review >What Our Users Said
The average user rating for this movie is 9.1 (out of 10) based on 25 User Votes
Note: User votes are NOT included in the Metascore calculation.
Moby B. gave it a10:
Extraordinary dialogue, Wilde's screwball plot--worthy of an award for comedic geometry---a cast that knows how to let the lines take centerstage. Critics who pan the way the director "opens" the play are misleading. Any faults here are secondary. The film itself succeeds with wit and bmself.
Emily G. gave it a 9:
This movie was hilarious!!! The acting is great, Judy Dench, Rupert Everett, Reese Witherspoon and Colin Firth are great, and the settings are really cool. Some older plays that are converted into movies are stupid, but this one is awsome!
Isabel C. gave it a 6:
This movie tried so hard to be as witty as the Wilde play, but in the end it failed for me. It had amusing and clever moments, but in the end it all became rather tiresome and silly.
[Anonymous] gave it a 9:
An absolute delight to watch, and a marvelous adaptation of Wilde's play.
Andreas L. gave it a 7:
The movie is like many converted plays........ not as good as the book!! although it was a delight to watch! Not sure about the hot air balloon used in one of the scenes in the movie!!
Damian P. gave it a 7:
Brilliant play (that's an understatement) but, despite this and the fine acting, something was missing from the movie version.
Simon D. gave it a 10:
Brilliant adaptation for the screen, you can't see the join where extra pieces have been added for the sake of continuity and dramatic effect. Wilde would have been pleased with it!
