Easy Virtue

Writer-director Stephan Elliott (The Adventures Of Priscilla, Queen Of The Desert) revives Noel Coward's comedy across the class divide with this handsome jaunt into the British countryside.

Set at the tail end of the '20s, Easy Virtue immerses us in a rarefied world of stiff upper lips and lavish stately homes, where the appearance of wealth is paramount to a family's standing.

Chaos erupts when an outsider strays into this microcosm of staunch tradition and etiquette, and dares to challenge the status quo.

Needless to say, the locals come out fighting, armed with a dizzying array of one-liners that still smart more than 80 years after Coward committed them to the page.

Jessica Biel is a revelation in her leading role as a glamorous fish out of water, managing to combine elegance and vulnerability with slapstick to often hilarious effect.

A macabre set piece involving the ill-fated family dog is a particular treat, marred slightly by Elliott's decision to let the joke run longer than necessary.

The great and the good of the British acting establishment relish the pithy dialogue in supporting roles.

However, rising star Ben Barnes (The Chronicles Of Narnia: Prince Caspian) is poorly served as the prodigal son caught between his heart and his heritage.

John Whittaker (Barnes) returns to his family's stately pile with his new bride, sexy racing car driver Larita (Biel), in tow.

His sisters Hilda (Kimberley Nixon) and Marion (Katherine Parkinson) are terribly impressed by the glamorous, out-spoken new addition to the clan, and his war-wounded father Jim (Colin Firth) seems charmed too.

However, John's neurotic mother Veronica (Kristin Scott Thomas) makes her disapproval obvious from the very first meeting - 'Oh, you're American...' - aghast that her golden boy didn't propose to one of the neighbours' daughters.

Larita tries her best to fit in with her less than genial hostess, quietly suffering the freezing English weather ('Shackleton wouldn't let a dog go out today!' she shrieks to John) and biting her tongue when commenting on Veronica's idiosyncratic taste in art.

'What an emotional depiction of the postal service, Mrs Whittaker,' smiles Larita.

However, tensions quickly escalate, especially when Larita dares to fraternise with butler Furber (Kris Marshall), and Veronica blatantly tries to drive a wedge between the newlyweds.

Easy Virtue is easy on the eye and the ear, with plentiful laugh out loud moments, and an embarrassment of quips, like when a moody Marion tells her father, 'I don't feel like smiling,' and he retorts breezily, 'You're English dear, fake it.' There are a few noticeable longueurs and some of Elliott's music choices are eccentric to say the least, including new versions of 'Sex Bomb' (to accompany a fox hunt) and Firth's closing rendition of Billy Ocean's 'When The Going Gets Tough (The Tough Get Going)'.

As stylistic flourishes go, it's perhaps one step out of time too far.

• Release Date: Friday 7 November 2008

• Certificate: PG

• Runtime: 96mins

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