Overall I enjoyed this flick. Perhaps this is because I knew very little about Cole Porter and so had no real reference point for the story, although I've often enjoyed hearing his songs.
Kevin Kline, an actor I don't usually care for, steals the show, and Ashley Judd is an able and most photogenic foil. The approach is inventive, the sets great, and the dialogue witty and perceptive.
A minor quibble - I agree that the presence of African-Americans in the chorus lines is anachronistic and jarring. It re-writes history with a vision of what we'd like to think was the situation rather than what really was, and by misleading audience members who quite possibly will know no better, does no service at all to the anti-racist cause.
A more serious flaw, though, is in the just-plain-inadequate performances of many of the songs, most notably an appallingly bad, tuneless rendition of "Begin the Beguine" by one Sheryl Crowe. What were the makers thinking of to allow such a travesty to escape the cutting-room floor? Are they all tone-deaf? I saw the film with someone who had never before heard the song, and no doubt like many other audience members she still has no idea how good it is. An unforgivable crime against good taste, in my book. And the less said about Elvis Costello the better, too.
The ending dragged, and the film would have benefited by having 10-15 minutes pruned from it. Either that, or replaced by (as pleaded for by the fictional Porter) one or two more numbers from "Kiss Me Kate". I'd have loved to see "Brush Up Your Shakespeare", for example, including the lines excised from the 1950s film (e.g. "If she says your behavior is heinous/Kick her right in the Coriol-anus...") Despite these reservations I enjoyed 90% of "De-lovely", and that's good enough for a 7/10.
Kevin Kline, an actor I don't usually care for, steals the show, and Ashley Judd is an able and most photogenic foil. The approach is inventive, the sets great, and the dialogue witty and perceptive.
A minor quibble - I agree that the presence of African-Americans in the chorus lines is anachronistic and jarring. It re-writes history with a vision of what we'd like to think was the situation rather than what really was, and by misleading audience members who quite possibly will know no better, does no service at all to the anti-racist cause.
A more serious flaw, though, is in the just-plain-inadequate performances of many of the songs, most notably an appallingly bad, tuneless rendition of "Begin the Beguine" by one Sheryl Crowe. What were the makers thinking of to allow such a travesty to escape the cutting-room floor? Are they all tone-deaf? I saw the film with someone who had never before heard the song, and no doubt like many other audience members she still has no idea how good it is. An unforgivable crime against good taste, in my book. And the less said about Elvis Costello the better, too.
The ending dragged, and the film would have benefited by having 10-15 minutes pruned from it. Either that, or replaced by (as pleaded for by the fictional Porter) one or two more numbers from "Kiss Me Kate". I'd have loved to see "Brush Up Your Shakespeare", for example, including the lines excised from the 1950s film (e.g. "If she says your behavior is heinous/Kick her right in the Coriol-anus...") Despite these reservations I enjoyed 90% of "De-lovely", and that's good enough for a 7/10.