| | The Importance of Being Earnest [Region 2] |  | Director: Oliver Parker
Actors: Rupert Everett, Colin Firth, Frances O'connor (ii), Reese Witherspoon, Judi Dench
Category: DVD
Buy New: $32.12
New (2) from $32.12
Avg. Customer Rating:  151 reviews
Sales Rank: 155628
Format: Pal
Languages: English (Original Language), English (Subtitled)
Rating: PG (Parental Guidance Suggested)
Discs: 1
Aspect Ratio: 2.35:1
Shipping Weight (lbs): 0.2
Dimensions (in): 7.1 x 5.4 x 0.6
EAN: 5017188887847
ASIN: B000063W2L
Theatrical Release Date: September 12, 2002
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
Condition: IMPORTANT: Most DVDs are country specific. Please carefully check Amazon's product information to ensure that the region (0=anywhere,1=North America,2=Japan/Europe) and picture encoding (NTSC=North America/Japan,PAL=Europe/Australia) are compatible with your player. Brand new. Shipped from the UK by Airmail direct to 5 airports in the United States. Delivery takes approx. 5 working days from posting often faster than US sellers. Also available worldwide shipping!
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Amazon.com
Splendidly adapted from the wittiest play in the English language, The Importance of Being Earnest stars Colin Firth as an English gentleman who pretends to be his own brother, named Ernest, so he can enjoy himself in the city without besmirching his reputation at his country estate. Unfortunately, he's just fallen in love with a young woman (Frances O'Connor) who insists that she can only marry a man named Ernest--and when Firth's best friend (Rupert Everett) goes to Firth's country estate pretending to be this same brother Ernest, he falls in love with Firth's ward (Reese Witherspoon), who similarly feels that Ernest is the perfect name for a husband... The absurdity of the plot is matched by the exquisite cleverness of the dialogue, and the performances--particularly Dame Judi Dench as Everett's fearsome aunt--are excellent. --Bret Fetzer
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| Customer Reviews: Read 146 more reviews...
 Doesn't live up to the hype, not funny at all August 2, 2008
The Importance of Being Earnest
Well, I've never seen the play or read it, so I can't compare this movie to the play, but the reviews that say the dialogue was clever and witty are wrong, very wrong. The dialogue was boring. We had a difficult time watching the whole thing and we're fans of Witherspoon, Everett, and Firth. The plot is very convoluted, with twists and turns and a surprise ending.
Jack Worthing (Colin Firth) has made up a fictitious brother named Earnest. When he leaves his country estate and goes to town, he pretends to be Earnest, leaving unpaid bills all over town and behaving badly. This way he doesn't ruin his country reputation. His best friend, Algernon (Rupert Everett) discovers a gift to Jack that is signed "Love Cecily" and becomes very interested in that country estate of Jack's and this woman Cecily who apparently lives there (she's Jack's eighteen year-old ward). So Algernon takes off for Jack's country estate while Jack is still in town and Algernon pretends to be the fictitious brother Earnest. Cecily (Reese Witherspoon) falls in love with Algie and he for her, but she is in love with Earnest, not Algie. In fact, she makes fun of that name when he brings it up.
Back in town, Jack falls in love with Algernon's cousin Gwendolen (Frances O'Connor). She of course thinks his name is Earnest and has always had this fantasy that she would someday marry a man named Earnest. She even tattoos the name on her derriere. When Jack proposes and Gwendolen accepts, her mother (Judi Dench) says the marriage can't take place because Jack has no parentage (he was literally found in a bag and raised an orphan). Depressed and determined to set his house in order (and discover his parentage somehow), Jack shows up at his country estate to discover Algernon pretending to be the fictitious Earnest. At the same time, solicitors from the city show up to arrest Earnest for all those unpaid bills in town.
Anyway, to make a long story short, the maid reveals that Jack is none other than the long lost younger brother of Algernon's. Yes, weird, and a bit far-fetched. So everyone ends up living happily ever after, because as luck would have it, Jack's real name given at birth was, tada, Earnest. So Gwendolen doesn't have to have that nasty tattoo removed. Needless to say, we did not find this plot as funny as the critics did. We were bored.
 Oscar Wilde Classic put to film. July 19, 2008
Great movie! Adds nice back story that you would not find in the book. Very entertaining.
The Importance of Being Earnest June 19, 2008
The Importance of Being Earnest is one of the wittiest comedies in English drama. This engaging production makes the most of every opportunity for comedy. The film strikes a balance of being true to the time period while remaining relevant to a modern audience.
Oh MY! May 27, 2008
What a fun movie this is!! Brilliant male cast! Dame Judi Dench stole the show, what a wonderful actress. This is sure to be a classic! If you want to hear colin and rupert SING, then get this movie! The longer version of the song they are singing can be heard during the credits.
Brilliantly directed, casted and acted! A must buy
The Victorians weren't as uptight as you think April 29, 2008
This is one of my favorite movies. A great cast takes full advantage of every wonderful sentence of Oscar Wilde's dialogue. The decor is splendid, the actors perfectly chosen and the net result is a better performance than you will ever see on a stage. The play is one of the greatest comedies in the English language: It is a joy to watch in this extraordinary film. If you do not have it already whatever is keeping you from buying it? This you will want to see many times over and over (we watch it several times a year)
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