Importance of Being Earnest, The

Color, PG (mature themes), 93 min., VHS rental, DVD $29.99

Street: Nov. 12, Prebook: now

First Run: L, May 2002, $7 mil.

Cast: Rupert Everett (The Next Best Thing), Colin Firth (Bridget Jones's Diary), Frances O'Connor (Bedazzled), Reese Witherspoon (Legally Blonde), Judi Dench (Iris), Tom Wilkinson (In the Bedroom), Anna Massey (Room to Rent)

Director: Oliver Parker

Story Line: In 1890s England, London playboy Algernon Moncrieff (Everett) and his more serious friend Jack Worthing (Firth) both adopt the same pseudonym, Ernest, leading to mixed-up shenanigans with their lady loves.

Bottom Line: Having successfully adapted Oscar Wilde's An Ideal Husband a few years back, writer/director Parker now tackles Wilde's most well-known play, and the results are mixed but lively. Parker pulled together a fine cast, including Witherspoon as the young, romantic Cecily. With her plausible accent, she more than holds her own against a cast of venerable English actors (Firth, Everett, Dench, et al). Parker also made several additions to the play, including fantasy sequences and a jazzy score that at times doesn't quite jibe with the late 19th century setting. This is unfortunate, since Wilde's witty dialog needs no dressing up, and it distracts in an anachronistic sense. Overall, this version is really less for Oscar Wilde purists and more for an audience who appreciates a Shakespeare in Love-style approach to a period classic. Push this comparison, the talented cast and the name-recognition value of a work that everyone has heard of. --Mayna Bergmann

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