De-Lovely (2004)

Please don't spend money on this.

It is a performances centric movie

If you don't like this, we can't be friends.

If the ambition is to provide two hours of instantly forgettable, popcorn-munching escapism, it succeeds.

To be honest, while all the criticisms are very understandable, and I actually agree with them, I was expecting something worse than how De-Lovely turned out. It is a long way from a great film, or even a good film, but to me it wasn't terrible.De-Lovely does have a good deal of good things. The film looks fabulous, the period clothes are just exquisite, there was evidently a great deal of care and attention to detail in the scenery and settings and the cinematography sparkles. The ageing make-up is very well done as well. Cole Porter's songs are wonderful, the best of them gold standard classics and while some of the songs deserved better treatment than they got others are very well performed, the best being John Barrowman's Night and Day, Natalie Cole's beautiful Every Time We Say Goodbye, Alanis Morissette's Let's Do It, Let's Fall in Love and Kevin Kline's sublime So in Love. The first half is suitably witty and sophisticated, the aftermath of the riding accident is movingly done(an improvement over how it was depicted in Night and Day with Cary Grant, which I found superior actually despite its flaws) and Porter and Linda's relationship is well-depicted. Ashley Judd plays Linda with dignity and Jonathan Pryce enjoys himself but other than the production values the best thing about the film was Kevin Kline's brilliant performance as Porter, a witty, charming and moving performance.Unfortunately, De-Lovely takes a nose-dive in the second half, feeling like a different film altogether, the pacing becomes leaden and the narrative becomes very jumpy with some ideas touched upon and not explored enough. Due to the gross number of inaccuracies and the change in chronological order of the songs and events makes the storytelling hard to follow. There is some really sloppy editing, and in general Irwin Winkler's very stylised direction becomes increasingly self-indulgent and manages to be hectic and ponderous. In the second half the wit and sophistication the first half had is completely lost with a lot of the writing becoming incredibly trite and awkward, Porter's sexuality is much too overt(the opposite effect of the glossed over effect Night and Day had) and the film overall is lacking in emotional connection narratively and stylistically. Too many of the song renditions don't work, Elvis Costello's singing style is ill-suited to Let's Misbehave(he also does little with the wit of the lyrics), Lemar is completely out of place and worst of all Begin the Beguine is execrably arranged and performed to the point of being unrecognisable, with tuneless and emotionless singing from Sheryl Crow, sounding like she isn't even listening to the music.In conclusion, not that bad but should have been much better. 5/10 Bethany Cox

When oh when are the Hollywood studios going to make decent and factual bio's of their countries songwriters from the 20's, 30's and 40s ???????Most of these songwriters were Jewish immigrant's, Cole Porter wasn't, but this isn't the point.De Lovely is crammed with Cole Porters songs, but with todays singers singing them and I cringed.The greatest singers to sing the songs that were crafted by masterful songwriters and lyricist have all but left us, albeit Tony Bennett is still around at 80 plus.Today's singers think more about their own careers and therefore themselves than they do the song they are singing that were written for an adult audience fresh from WW2.I loathed De-Lovely, I loathed Kevin Cline as Cole Porter.The Great American songwriters left a huge legacy, but I bet if I walked the streets of New York, and asked one person if he or she could tell me the songwriter behind just one song standard, that person would have no idea, and this is a double crime.We haven't got the caliber of songwriters today, its all about money. Beat has replaced melody. Songs today are written for a young audience, and uncultured adults.George Gershwin, Irving Berlin, Jerome Kern, Harry Warren, Richard Rodgers, Frank Loesser, to name just a few composers from the 30's and 40's were geniuses.I could spend a week writing this because I feel strongly about it.Its about time Hollywood played factual tribute to the men and woman of the 20's 30's and 40's who contributed so much to the studio's and American musical culture.

not a biographic movie. only sketch of a career, shadows of a life, search of happiness, nuances of a gift, small pieces of a way to define essence and a love story like a palmer in storm. a delight. for actors - Kevin Kline is extraordinary, Ashley Judd - definition of fragility, for music, old, good and nostalgic, for labyrinth of a man personality, for post- death analysis, for the science of detail and art of show as cake cream. for courage to create a character far from public image - seductive, cold, strange and very vulnerable. for homo erotic page as few drops of cinnamon. for a fake easy comedy who gives questions, seeds and any answer. for recreation of a era. and for the joy to be, for more than 100 minutes part of a game , part, in secret, of yourself.

Cole Porter's music was great and Cole Porter was brilliant. Unfortunately the same cannot be said for this movie. A musical should be upbeat; this movie is ponderous. The musical numbers are fine; Kevin Kline is absolutely marvelous as Cole Porter, but when the movie becomes a biopic it becomes stagy, melodramatic and slow and the music becomes secondary, which is baffling since the movie is a musical. It's one thing to inject moments of sadness in the story; it is another thing to make those moments the cornerstone of a musical which is supposed to be upbeat, not downbeat. A musical should have the audience leaving the theater humming the tunes, not feeling sorry for the composer. Moreover, regarding Cole Porter's sexuality: who cares? He wrote and performed songs; he was a bard, a modern day troubadour. With whom he cavorted is entirely irrelevant to his accomplishments as a performer. This movie would have been much more entertaining if it had devoted more time to the music, downplayed the personal stuff and ended with a bunch of upbeat songs. Hollywood had it right when the cast Cary Grant to play Cole Porter in 1946. Unfortunately, despite the marvelous music and Kevin Kline's superb performance, the same cannot be said for this movie. Let the music speak for itself.The movie would have done much more justice to Mr. Porter if it had not relegated his songs to the background. His life was about music and music was his life. Like everyone, he had his personal issues but why dwell on that? Cole Porter was more than just a songwriter. He was a producer, composer, impresario, soldier, athlete and entertainer. He exuded joy, spread happiness and made people feel good through his work. His songs today are not only classics, they are icons for an entire culture. And this was recognized while Mr. Porter was still alive. Well-deserved accolades were expressed during his career. He became a living legend. Along with Irving Berlin and George M. Cohan, Cole Porter was top of the line, the best, the epitome of artistic quality.Here's a few items about Mr. Porter life that the movie leaves out: He was born and raised in Indiana. He wrote over 300 songs while in college. He received musical training at Harvard. He was a musical prodigy as a child. He served in the French Foreign Legion.If the judged sole by music, the movie rates a 10. However, for reasons noted above, it has been given an overall rating of 8.