It's always amusing when minor talents convince themselves that not only are they Major and not Bush leaguers but actually superior to the Old Masters. Noel Coward had his share of flops (Sirocco, anyone) but these were far outweighed by his triumphs and two things he did as well as anyone and better than most was 1) constructing a solid play and 2) lacing it with brittle dialogue, twin gifts sadly denied to Stephan Elliott and Sheridan Jobbins though they may be the only ones unaware of this. They have a combined total - including television - of eleven writing credits against literally dozens by Coward but they haven't allowed that to prevent them taking a Coward original and contriving to bleed all the Style and Wit out of it. Hands up, for example, anyone who has ever encountered the word 'plonker' in the Collected Works of Noel Coward. As if to deliberately antagonise viewers Elliott sprinkles Coward and Porter numbers throughout then proceeds to contrast them with garbage like Car Wash and Sex Bomb, a trick he no doubt picked up from fellow Australian Baz Luhrman via the latter's execrable Moulin Rouge. On the credit side there is some very passable period shooting, the costumes are mostly authentic and there is Kristin Scott Thomas to look at and listen to. If you've never seen a Coward play or film you might even enjoy this, if you have ... be warned.
Review of Easy Virtue
