Seeing De-Lovely is like being handed a great-looking Christmas present, and then finding the box holds socks. A let-down. At least it was considerably more honest about Porter's married and sex lives (they weren't the same) than the grotesque Night and Day. On the plus side was Porter's songs, lots of them, and performed well by singers like Elvis Costello and Sheryl Crow, who don't come to mind as Porter specialists. And there is the job by Kevin Kline, one of the most skilled and likable actors around. Ashley Judd did, I thought, a good job in a fairly thankless role.
But, oh, how strange the change from major to minor. The movie, to me, seemed leaden, with the direction heavy footed. Almost every meaningful moment that arose was underlined by an obvious song, or lighting, or staging. The framing device with Jonathan Pryce didn't work for me; it was too much "and then you did" kind of a thing. And I couldn't make up my mind if they were trying to make the old Porter look like Rod Steiger or Carl Reiner.
Then there is the matter of Porter's personality. Even his most complimentary biographers allow that he was a superficial, condescending social snob. He was witty and charming with those he considered his equals in "society" and those with whom he worked in the theater. But he thought nothing of humiliating or being publicly rude to those he thought didn't meet his social standards. At any rate, the personal angst of the rich and famous have never touched me deeply...even when J Lo and Ben broke up.
I give the movie high marks for Kline, the songs and the star performers. But I thought the rest of it was too heavy handed.
(If you're interested in seeing a top notch musical biography, check out Topsy-Turvy. It costars Allan Corduner, who plays Monty Wooley in this film, as the Sullivan half of Gilbert and Sullivan.)
But, oh, how strange the change from major to minor. The movie, to me, seemed leaden, with the direction heavy footed. Almost every meaningful moment that arose was underlined by an obvious song, or lighting, or staging. The framing device with Jonathan Pryce didn't work for me; it was too much "and then you did" kind of a thing. And I couldn't make up my mind if they were trying to make the old Porter look like Rod Steiger or Carl Reiner.
Then there is the matter of Porter's personality. Even his most complimentary biographers allow that he was a superficial, condescending social snob. He was witty and charming with those he considered his equals in "society" and those with whom he worked in the theater. But he thought nothing of humiliating or being publicly rude to those he thought didn't meet his social standards. At any rate, the personal angst of the rich and famous have never touched me deeply...even when J Lo and Ben broke up.
I give the movie high marks for Kline, the songs and the star performers. But I thought the rest of it was too heavy handed.
(If you're interested in seeing a top notch musical biography, check out Topsy-Turvy. It costars Allan Corduner, who plays Monty Wooley in this film, as the Sullivan half of Gilbert and Sullivan.)