EASY VIRTUE
RYAN: I knew very little about the film “Easy Virtue” other than it starred Ben Barnes who’s one of my favorite actors since I saw him in one of my all-time favorite movies, “Stardust.”
CAROLINE: I loved this trailer when I first saw it. The cast is great – Colin Firth, Kristin Scott Thomas, and for some reason, Jessica Biel. It seemed like a cute, fun, comedic British period piece.
RYAN: It’s from the same director as “Priscilla, Queen of the Desert” and the way it started totally reminded me of “Moulin Rouge!” The music is great, and it’s decadent and lush. I actually thought it was going to be a musical at first, and I was loving it. And then Jessica Biel opened her mouth.
CAROLINE: [laughs’ That’s where it all went downhill.
RYAN: Here’s the one good thing I can say: she played an American.
CAROLINE: It took me a minute to realize that she just can’t act. I really enjoyed the movie; it’s frothy and fun at the beginning, and kinda kooky. I loved the music too. Overall, I liked a lot of things about this movie, but Jessica Biel was not one of them.
RYAN: She’s so wooden and awful, and it was offset by how amazing everyone else in the cast was. Kristin Scott Thomas totally nailed her performance, Colin Firth is great in everything he does and Ben Barnes is a rising star; so it’s such a letdown that Jessica Biel sucked as hard as she did. If there were a better actress in her role, this might have been a movie I’d buy on DVD.
CAROLINE: She looked terrible with blond hair. Why they gave her that color wig I will never understand. She also smoked very poorly. Clearly, she doesn’t smoke in real life – which is a good thing. But she looked so uncool trying to do it on screen. She’s supposed to be this free-spirited American who invades a wealthy British family’s home after marrying their son, but she was just annoying.
RYAN: Her delivery wasn’t good. Granted, Scarlett Johansson wouldn’t have been much better. I actually liked Jessica Biel in “The Illusionist,” but now I’m thinking she cannot act. At all. She embarrassed herself in this movie.
CAROLINE: Ouch. Her body is amazing though, and her face is OK; though I’m sure it’s much prettier when she’s not in a hideous blond wig. She was trying way too hard in this role. She has a few scenes that require some intense acting, and she just couldn’t handle it.
RYAN: She’s not sophisticated enough. Even though she didn’t have to do a British accent, she couldn’t really master the 1920s way of speaking. The two sisters in the movie are hilarious though.
CAROLINE: They had some great moments. There are several parts that made me laugh out loud, which I wasn’t expecting from a period piece, so that was a fun surprise. It is based on a Noel Coward play, after all. I also left the screening thinking Ben Barnes is pretty hot.
RYAN: I knew that already. The costumes were great too, and I loved the movie’s quirkiness.
— BOTTOM LINE —
CAROLINE: It’s a fun, light movie with a great cast. It’s only out in limited release and I think it’s even already out on DVD. You don’t have to rush out to see it, but it’s very cute.
RYAN: It’ll be enjoyed by people who like period pieces, and it’s definitely worth seeing for the performances by Colin Firth, Kristin Scott Thomas and Ben Barnes. Even though Jessica Biel drags the movie down, you can get over it because of how good the others are. It’s shot so well and beautiful to look at, so I’d recommend it.
— RATING —
