I saw a marvelous performance of the play at the Utah Shakespeare Festival. Now I've seen the movie. The screenwriter was not Oscar Wilde. The Director in opening up the play dropped the pacing, crucial to the verbal humor that made Wilde a great playwright. The acting was passable, but remember film acting is nothing like playacting. I give the play a 10 and the movie a 5. In so doing, I'm stretching generosity like spandex on a portly man's derrier. Incidentally, screenwriter, how dare you drop some of Wilde's wittiest dialog. Aren't we fortunate that the theater doesn't have a cutting room floor.
Review of The Importance of Being Earnest
