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NUMBERS
Box Office: $8,281,437
details...
CONSENSUS
Despite the great potential of the cast and Oscar Wilde’s script, director Oliver Parker put aside too many Wilde's witticisms and failed in an attempt to develop the visual appearance of the film. Nevertheless, the lines remaining from the original script still allow the work to be passable.
CAST & CREW
Rupert Everett, Colin Firth, Judi Dench
Directed by Oliver Parker
more...
SYNOPSIS
In his second adaptation of an Oscar Wilde play, writer-director Oliver Parker (AN IDEAL HUSBAND) assembles a peerless cast to engage in this witty comedy of manners and mistaken identity. more...
MPAA RATING
PG, mild sensuality
RELEASE DATES
Theatrical: May 22, 2002
Video: Nov 12, 2002
RELEASE COMPANY
Miramax Films
GENRE
Comedies, Period Piece, England
OFFICIAL SITE
• The Official Importance of Being Earnest Site
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PARENTS EVALUATION
TRAILER & MEDIA
PHOTOS
TIDBITS
NEWS ARTICLES
LINKS
SUBMIT/EDIT ARTICLE
SUBMIT USER REVIEW
FORUM
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 "Earnest falls short of its Ideal predecessor largely due to Parker's ill-advised meddling with the timeless source material."
-- Todd Anthony, SOUTH FLORIDA SUN-SENTINEL
 "Great fun, but it's just a tad this side of being overproduced, much of the author's dry wit gets lost in the scenery."
-- William Arnold, SEATTLE POST-INTELLIGENCER
"The film, despite the gratuitous cinematic distractions impressed upon it, is still good fun."
-- Joe Baltake, SACRAMENTO BEE
"But tongue-in-cheek preposterousness has always been part of For the most part Wilde's droll whimsy helps "Being Earnest" overcome its weaknesses and Parker's creative interference..."
-- Rob Blackwelder, SPLICEDWIRE
"A witty screen adaptation of this classic comedy of manners with its generous supply of snappy one-liners."
-- Frederic and Mary Ann Brussat, SPIRITUALITY AND HEALTH
""...something appears to have been lost in the translation this time. The Importance of Being Earnest movie seems to be missing a great deal of the acerbic repartee of the play.""
-- Cory Cheney, URBAN TULSA WEEKLY
"Oliver Parker brings the wit's [Oscar Wilde] work to the screen in a solidly rendered creation."
-- Robin Clifford, REELING REVIEWS
"It’s all enjoyable fluffiness, a light comedy that will please both the art house crowd and the Average Joe."
-- David Cornelius, AMAZING COLOSSAL WEBSITE
"Like watching a dress rehearsal the week before the show goes up: everything's in place but something's just a little off-kilter."
-- Matt Easterbrook, MATT'S MOVIE REVIEWS
"It's so full of wrong choices that all you can do is shake your head in disbelief -- and worry about what classic Oliver Parker intends to mangle next time."
-- Marshall Fine, JOURNAL NEWS
"'In this poor remake of such a well loved classic, Parker exposes the limitations of his skill and the basic flaws in his vision.'"
-- Mark Freeman, CRITICAL EYE
"Always destined to be measured against Anthony Asquith's acclaimed 1952 screen adaptation."
-- Harry Guerin, RTE INTERACTIVE (DUBLIN, IRELAND)
"Witherspoon puts to rest her valley-girl image, but it's Dench who really steals the show."
-- Justin Hartung, CITYSEARCH
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"The ingenuity that Parker displays in freshening the play is almost in a class with that of Wilde himself."
-- Jay Boyar, ORLANDO SENTINEL
"The niftiest trick perpetrated by The Importance of Being Earnest is the alchemical transmogrification of Wilde into Austen--and a Hollywood-ized Austen at that."
-- Walter Chaw, FILM FREAK CENTRAL
"A 94-minute travesty of unparalleled proportions, writer-director Parker seems to go out of his way to turn the legendary wit's classic mistaken identity farce into brutally labored and unfunny hokum."
-- Jason Clark, MATINEE MAGAZINE
"Parker cannot sustain the buoyant energy level of the film's city beginnings into its country conclusion"
-- Laura Clifford, REELING REVIEWS
"I had a dream that a smart comedy would come along to rescue me from a summer of teen-driven, toilet-humor codswallop, and its name was Earnest."
-- Cherryl Dawson and Leigh Ann Palone, THEMOVIECHICKS.COM
"'Opening up' the play more has partly closed it down."
-- David Elliott, SAN DIEGO UNION-TRIBUNE
"With an unflappable air of decadent urbanity, Everett remains a perfect Wildean actor, and a relaxed Firth displays impeccable comic skill."
-- Ken Fox, TV GUIDE'S MOVIE GUIDE
"An often-deadly boring, strange reading of a classic whose witty dialogue is treated with a baffling casual approach"
-- Bob Grimm, LAS VEGAS MERCURY
"Parker holds true to Wilde's own vision of a pure comedy with absolutely no meaning, and no desire to be anything but a polished, sophisticated entertainment that is in love with its own cleverness."
-- Ken Hanke, MOUNTAIN XPRESS (ASHEVILLE, NC)
"It would take a complete moron to foul up a screen adaptation of Oscar Wilde’s classic satire."
-- Jeremy Heilman, MOVIEMARTYR.COM
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ROTTEN 59%
Avg. Rating: 6/10 |
"While The Importance of Being Earnest offers opportunities for occasional smiles and chuckles, it doesn't give us a reason to be in the theater beyond Wilde's wit and the actors' performances."
-- James Berardinelli, JAMES BERARDINELLI'S REELVIEWS
"Director Oliver Parker labors so hard to whip life into The Importance of Being Earnest that he probably pulled a muscle or two."
-- Mike Clark, USA TODAY
"The Importance of Being Earnest, so thick with wit it plays like a reading from Bartlett's Familiar Quotations"
-- Roger Ebert, CHICAGO SUN-TIMES
"The Importance of Being Earnest resonates and inspires rapid-fire bouts of laughter, perhaps even a few giggles from the author himself, whom posterity has rewarded the last laugh."
-- Robert K. Elder, CHICAGO TRIBUNE
"Oscar Wilde's masterpiece, The Importance of Being Earnest, may be the best play of the 19th century. It's so good that its relentless, polished wit can withstand not only inept school productions, but even Oliver Parker's movie adaptation."
-- Jonathan Foreman, NEW YORK POST
"...a ho-hum affair, always watchable yet hardly memorable."
-- Rick Groen, GLOBE AND MAIL
"For all its distractions and additions, The Importance of Being Earnest is still a reasonably entertaining costume comedy."
-- Stephen Holden, NEW YORK TIMES
"Offers a breath of the fresh air of true sophistication."
-- Ann Hornaday, WASHINGTON POST
"Smart, sassy interpretation of the Oscar Wilde play."
-- Desson Howe, WASHINGTON POST
"There are moments of hilarity to be had."
-- Peter Howell, TORONTO STAR
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"Parker probably thinks he's shaking up a classic the way Kenneth Branagh and Baz Luhrmann have, but this half-hearted messing-about just makes us miss Wilde's still-contemporary play."
-- Chris Hewitt, ST. PAUL PIONEER PRESS
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* Who are the Approved Tomatometer Critics?
* Mouse over a tomato icon for a publication's original rating. Original rating not available for every publication.
* In fairness to critics whose last name begins with a letter at the end of the alphabet, certain pages are sorted in reverse order, z-a.
* Certain "Importance of Being Earnest" article data provided by the Movie Review Query Engine.
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