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Ideal Husband, An
Miramax Films
MPAA RATING: PG-13 for brief sensuality/nudity
Starring
Cate Blanchett,
Minnie Driver,
Rupert Everett,
Julianne Moore,
and
Jeremy Northam
An adaptation of Oscar Wilde's romantic social satire. (Miramax)
| GENRE(S): |
Comedy
|
| WRITTEN BY: |
Oliver Parker
Oscar Wilde (play)
|
| DIRECTED BY: |
Oliver Parker
|
| RELEASE DATE: |
DVD: April 3, 2001
Video: April 3, 2001
Theatrical: June 18, 1999
|
| RUNNING TIME: |
97 minutes, |
| ORIGIN: |
UK / USA |
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...
90
Variety
Derek Elley
Shines like a freshly minted coin in Oliver Parker's adaptation.
88
Chicago Tribune
Michael Wilmington
It's a movie of uncommon eloquence and elegance, acted by a truly gifted cast.
83
Seattle Post-Intelligencer
William Arnold
Makes the translation with all its wit, incisive dialogue and eccentric characters intact, and then some.
80
Rolling Stone
Peter Travers
What shakes the dust off this period piece is the vibrant acting.
80
Los Angeles Times
Kevin Thomas
Parker has shaped the play to make it more film-friendly and relevant, but he has done so with such subtlety you would have to be a Wilde authority even to notice.
80
Washington Post
Stephen Hunter
Parker stays with and even streamlines Wilde's clever manipulations of betrayals and lies and plots and counterplots. Yet the film never feels stagy.
80
Salon.com
Stephanie Zacharek
It all seems calculated to churn up excitement, a promise that there's lots of dazzle, glamour and intrigue to come. An Ideal Husband actually does deliver all those things, but mostly in a pleasurably understated way -- no need for the noisy signals.
80
Film.com
Elizabeth Weitzman
It still sounds pretty fresh: politicians scratching backs, loose ladies threatening to talk, careers balanced tremulously on the line
80
New Times (L.A.)
Bill Gallo
The political, social, and linguistic adjustments Parker makes to this hugely entertaining Husband give it fresh relevance without betraying the original.
75
Chicago Sun-Times
Roger Ebert
The two leading men, Northam and Everett, are smooth and charming.
70
New York Magazine
Peter Rainer
Our familiarity with the actors, and their comfort in this period setting, lend the piece an unexpected air of naturalism.
70
Chicago Reader
Jonathan Rosenbaum
The only problem I was faced with was trying to understand what exactly it was that I enjoyed, and how this movie differed from the play I'd read.
70
Washington Post
Desson Thomson
We are amused. We are not sputtering into our teacups, but we are chortling lightly.
70
Village Voice
Amy Taubin
His film is hardly memorable, but it's amusing enough for two hours, and it never panders or cloys.
70
Slate
David Edelstein
The movie is diverting enough -- it's good fun -- but much of the genius is gone with the wind.
70
The New York Times
Stephen Holden
Life at the top has rarely looked or sounded more fabulously elegant.
70
TV Guide
Maitland McDonagh
It's lavish, clever entertainment, a welcome opportunity to laugh without shame.
70
Film.com
Robert Horton
The film version of this civilized beauty, captures the amusing gloss of the story but not the sense that something grave is going on beneath it all.
70
Film Threat
Ron Wells
The film is not without its problems, some inherent to Wilde's original play.
60
Newsweek
Andrea C. Basora
Beautifully appointed, fairly bursting with splendid sets and divine costumes, but it ultimately fails to capture the essence of Wilde's airy wit.
50
Austin Chronicle
Hollis Chacona
This big-screen version of Wilde's stylish match of deceit and honor, loyalty and betrayal, is more parry than thrust.
50
Time
Richard Corliss
An ideal play is degraded into an indolent film
50
San Francisco Chronicle
Edward Guthmann
Director- writer Oliver Parker saps much of the juice from Wilde, slows the pace and directs his actors in an inappropriately naturalistic style.
50
San Francisco Examiner
Wesley Morris
Leans so heavily on its stars that their performances are marred by their emptiness.
20
LA Weekly
Ella Taylor
Parker has boiled An Ideal Husband into a thuddingly unimaginative costume drama laden with frocks, riding crops, servile butlers and very good actors desperately treading water.
 The average user rating for this movie is 7.0 (out of 10) based on 2 User Votes
Note: User votes are NOT included in the Metascore calculation.
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