Biel: Pretty but no match for classically trained actors

Biel's character, Larita, has married the Whittakers' wayward prodigal son (played ably, if unremarkably, by Ben Barnes) and the two breeze back into the family headed by Kristin Scott Thomas' note-perfect matriarch.

Though, in the foreground, Easy Virtue is a love story, Barnes' character quickly wet-blankets his way into the back and this becomes a war between the brash new American wife and the fiercely proud and repressed mother-in-law. Sides are drawn, with Mrs. Whittaker's daughters and fellow upper-class twits taking hers, and on the other side, the servants and Mr. Whittaker (played by every nice woman's boyfriend, Colin Firth), a broken man out of step with the family since his return from the war, who finds a kindred soul in Larita's square-peg-in-round-hole. It barely needs mentioning that accurate casting does not make Biel and Thomas equals.

Director Stephan Elliott (The Adventures of Priscilla, Queen of the Desert) manages to only partially rekindle the crackle of the Noël Coward play upon which this and Alfred Hitchcock's 1928 silent film version were based. There are moments where the dialogue darts nimbly through the drawing room with the heady wit for which Coward is known, but, just as often, what was originally stinging social satire and droll back-and-forth comes across simply as plot points and line readings.

Though thoroughly intellectual when compared to much of the cinematic fare that the summer season blesses us with, Easy Virtue underwhelms. But at least it does so from the starting point of a celebrated play, instead of a focus group or kids' cartoon.
 
 

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Family Dynamics     The best thing about this film is its droll dialogue (thanks to Noel Coward) and clever play between upper and lower classes (the butler/valet is a riot). Jessica Biel is fine playing an American race car driver circa 1930's brought to the English countryside upon wedding an aristocratic young man. She's thrust into class and family politics from the get-go, caught in a snare much like the hapless English fox, doing her best to escape the family's, especially her mother-in-law's, animosity. Biel is breathtakingly beautiful in her flapper hairstyle and dress, but she can also act. She's not merely playing the vulnerable wife but a modern woman struggling between pleasing her husband and staying true to herself. Although Kristin Scott Thomas as her mother-in-law can throw back the one-liners in her sleep, Biel adequately rejoins her. It's not really fair to compare Biel's acting skills with Thomas'--Thomas is a seasoned actress excelling in dry wit, such as in this film, or intense drama, as in last year's Il y a longtemps que je t'aime. Colin Firth is his usual excellent self here playing a burnt-out war vet who doesn't fit into the family dynamic anymore. He prefers to work on his motorcycle and stay in the garage. Who could blame him when the family delights in tearing apart the unwelcome newcomer. He sees a kindred spirit in Biel's character and the two develop an easygoing relationship. Ben Barnes as the newlywed husband is fine as well, also having good chemistry with Biel. He looks the part of the carefree aristocrat, but his is a somewhat weak character, a mama's boy, thereby reducing his likability. The film is beautifully shot, what with the beautiful English countryside and the imposing manor houses. The only thing I didn't care for were the musical interludes. It would have been fine if they stuck to the original songs of the day; instead we get a mixture of old and new songs, bordering on the anachronistic. Too bad. Otherwise it's an en
Julie Miller		June 5th, 2009

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