On paper, this would appear to have got everything right. Script by Wilde; Minnie & Cate and the delicious Rupert Everett and Jeremy Northam. But it doesn't quite work, because the actors don't seem able to have any fun with the text. They should be serious at times, of course, or the story wouldn't work, but the production lacks lightness, playfulness. If, for instance, you compare Minnie's Miss Mabel with the Glynis Johns performance in the earlier movie, you'll see where Minnie got it wrong, behaving like a slightly desperate child, where Glynis's Mabel was a charmingly faux-naive grown-up woman, who knew exactly what was going to happen all along. For Glynis, the end is: yes, and what took you so long? For Minnie, it's: Blimey! Really? Not quite as chic. All the same, they're an awfully attractive cast, and it's a nice film. But it could have been fun, and it could have been good
Review of An Ideal Husband
