Easy Virtue, a film adaptation of Noel Coward's jazzy 1920s-set play, pits the old traditions of Europe's landowning gentry against the brash modernity that America had come to symbolize. The old guard is represented by a wealthy British family led by the brittle matriarch Mrs. Whittaker (Kristin Scott Thomas). When her son, John Whittaker (Ben Barnes), marries a sexy race car driver named Larita (Jessica Biel) several years his elder, the entire family is thrown into a tizzy.
Once Biel's character arrives at the Whittaker home she's meant to represent a vibrant and mesmerizing new way of doing things that is utterly offensive to this family so steeped in tradition. But alas, Ms. Biel doesn't quite have what it takes to hold down the center of a film like this and the whole endeavor suffers. To see why, read more.
The cast includes the kind of immensely talented actors who can take on the old-fashioned, quick and witty dialogue with one hand tied behind their backs. Biel tries to keep up and at times she succeeds, but most of the time she simply appears to be swimming upstream. As you might expect, Kristin Scott Thomas deliciously inhabits her icy character with ease and delivers each line as a stinging backhanded compliment. Colin Firth plays her long-suffering husband still hurting from memories of war, and delivers an incredibly funny yet soulful performance. Even Ben Barnes, who is handsome but stiff in The Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian, displays pizzazz as the prodigal son returning home.
As the movie clicks along, though, more and more is asked of Biel as she navigates the cruel and ruthless landmines set out for her by her new mother-in-law and sisters-in-law, and she's not quite able to rise to the occasion. As the tone shifts in the final act from a comedy of manners to a darker drama, the talented ensemble cast does all it can to prop the movie up, but the center can't hold in the end.
Photos courtesy of Sony Picture Classics
Rimmel
well we never expect much grom Biel, in this case is sad for the rest of the actors, because it seems like they did a good job, and biel's lack of acting skills deminished theirs.
1Not to be too harsh, but for me Jessica Biel cannot deliver well in a roll that requires her to be thinking? She is probably not one of my favorite performers; I think she was right when she said "her look" is too distracting. I watched "Easy Virtue" and every time she was on screen I would get impatient for the scene to be over.
2I love that this review comes after the comment from Biel that she's basically being denied roles because she's too gorgeous. No, honey, it's because you're not a good actress. Plenty of other beautiful women who actually have the acting chops to do so get great roles all the time. Ever heard of Angelina Jolie? What about Charlize Theron?
3oooo tlsgirl— Charlize Theron would have been great for this role.
4It's funny that after the "Allure" interviews all reviews of Biel's performance in "Easy Virtue" totally differ from the reviews made before that interview wherein most critics agreed she did a decent job; not great but decent.
I've seen the movie, and she really wasn't that bad. No Kristin Scott Thomas, but compared to Ben Barnes she was actually good.
5It may have less to do with ability and more to do with experience in more challenging acting pieces. If she pulls it off for at least parts of the movie maybe she just needs more time. To compare her someone like Colin Firth who spends a majority of his screen time in period pieces is a bit unfair. As someone who loves period pieces often the best actors in the business had not so awe inspiring beginnings.
6It's funny that after the "Allure" interviews all reviews of Biel's performance in "Easy Virtue" totally differ from the reviews made before that interview wherein most critics agreed she did a decent job; not great but decent.
Before the Allure interview this movie wasn't getting good reviews,and nether was Jessica.
7The only good acting of Jessica Biel came when **** SPOILER ALERT***** she kills the family dog and participates in the fox hunting. That was it for me....
8I agree with your review Buzz. With such a great cast, Colin Firth and Kristen Scott Thomas, this would appear to be a hit. I felt bad for them that they were stuck with Biel. She was completely out of her league. She just doesn't have what it takes to carry a movie.
Since Larita was to be an older woman, in the play she was at least 9 years older than John, it would have made since to cast an older actress. Ben and Jessica are pretty close in age, that in itself made her performance unrealistic.
I agree with the others above, Charlize would have been great or even Rachel McAdams. She is only in her early 30's but she could have pulled it off.
9i was kinda excited about this mostly for the supporting cast and was hoping biel could carry the role. makes me sad that she doesnt. i'll probably rent it when it comes out on dvd.
10With all the great actresses out there I'm stunned as to why Biel was even considered for this role.
11She tries so hard, but I don't know why she likes these roles. Chuck and Larry- that she could do. Find herself a movie just like that but with a bit more depth, a larger role, and she'd be golden. Personally, I think she tries to go too gritty or too intellectual or too period to prove everyone wrong, that she can do it. Not that she can't, but she can do other things better, and her talents would be better suited for a different type of project.
Other people have given her good/decent reviews. For anyone to give her any sort of praise, I say she has to be pretty good in the role.
I haven't seen it (yet), but can't wait because she's the lead. That in itself is exciting. Is it going into wide release? Hope so. Otherwise I'll wait for the DVD.
12I didn't really have any high expectations about Biel's acting in this movie, but at least she seems to do a decent job. I'm more interested in seeing this movie because of Ben Barnes and Colin Firth
not Jessica Biel.
13You have to keep in mind that the character that Jessica Biel is playing is this huge character. Reading the description of the character and watching the movie I felt like wow Biel's got a lot to work with, but she didn't or rather she couldn't. There were just some lines which were great but she killed it, I mean she wasn't horrible but she could've really lived up the character's expectations. She did sing well though
14I LOVED Kristin Scott Thomas, she was just amazing and that was expected. But seriously if a shrill voice had any reference i would immediately think of her character, amazing.
Colin Firth is Colin Firth, amazing.
Ben Barnes, the character was so much fun yet annoying at times but he played it well. He's also got a great voice, which I was surprised to hear.
Oh and the actor that plays the butler is hilarious, his name escapes me but yea he was great. He was also in Love Actually.
you lost me at Jessica Biel.
15haha, I love how this review recognized how an otherwise decent or even good movie can be completely ruined by one bad performance. and when you put jessica biel in anything, you run that risk.
the problem is that; while she can pull off something breezy and superficial like Chuck & Larry, she does try too hard. and putting her in a period piece is like putting a really flat bottle of Coke in a period: it looks too modern and it stands out in a bad and very distracting way...
If one forgets who these actors are in real life and just sit back and watch the movie.... it is a fun piece. It is not meant to be deep or inspiring but a bit comedic poking fun at the British and Americans. Lots of laughs, giggles and special "British" moments. Great acting no but enough to make this one to see. Jessica does here piece well...Oscar worthy..no but that is not what this movie is striving for. So quit trying to dissect it and just enjoy.... I know I did and a great majority or the movie goers who clapped at the end. So critics aside that says something!
16Jessica Biel’s speedy and athletic performance in the film Easy Virtue, much like the Detroit racing doll she embodies, is a blast from the future into old-fashioned English aristocracy whose staid values Americans have passed by.
At first, she feels a bit too newly manufactured amongst the upper crust, closed-minded English setting. Biel is as contemporary Western-American as you can get, with her muscular build and perfected orthodontia, not to mention history of roles in Christian melodrama Seventh Heaven, teenage-horror film Texas Chainsaw Massacre and baseball flick, Summer Catch. We are meant to feel the cultural clash between her and other members of the cast, whose repertoire of established films is of a slightly more superior track-record (Kristin Scott Thomas in The English Patient and Il y a longtemps que je t'aime; Colin Firth in Pride & Prejudice, Bridget Jones Diary.)
As soon as you see her in the 1920s gown, however, you recall her appearance in The Illusionist, and feel increasingly at ease with Biel driving this period piece. Her beauty and confidence ignite the role of Larry (short for Larita), a shiny new wife with a killer body who drives a BMW and also wears pantsuits and leather jackets. Plus it’s refreshing not to see Keira Knightley hogging all the roles of non-contemporary heroines.
Biel takes command as the strong woman behind the boyishly naïve newlywed, John Whitaker, (played by unknown actor Ben Barnes, known only for his role in The Chronicles of Narnia). She is obviously the more experienced of the two. Her strengths as an actress are exhibited particularly well when opposite Scott Thomas or Firth. In the scene in the conservatory, her rhythm of language, interspersed with hiccups of sneezes, sounds groomed and coiffed with as much attention to style as her racing jackets and short hairdo. But then there are times when Biel opens her mouth at the dinner table conversation and you just don’t believe she’s in the same time period as the others.
It's excusable because her character is clearly meant to stand out against the dowdy Whitaker sisters. But how much did she work with a dialect coach for this film? The rest of the cast probably didn't need one. I am not quite sure if 1920s slang used expressions as “Oh God,” but rather, spoke more as Brett does in The Sun Also Rises using words as “blast.” This would have sounded forced for Biel, who speaks with a natural ease that feels so contemporary. Perhaps the discrepancies in language and tone are thanks to up and coming writers Stephan Elliot and Sheridan Jobbins, who rewrote the script from the original 1928 screenplay by Noel Coward, adapted from the play - or else it could be the directing, because there are other moments of the film that also don’t feel believable.
1) The can-can scene where the young Whitaker who is Biel's sister-in-law gets tricked into not wearing her knickers. How is it possible to flash an entire audience unknowingly and not know you're doing it? 2) The scene in which Biel sits on the couch and accidentally kills the dog instantaneously. It usually takes a few moments even for an animal to die. 3) Why the butler is so loyal to Biel’s character when she drives away at the end? Was his character more prominent in the play? They standout as definite parts of a script that still feel scripted, and perhaps enacted too quickly on camera. This is not a reflection of talent but perhaps, the directing and screenplay combined.
The strengths of the film are certainly its cast. The one-on-one scenes with Biel and Colin Firth enrich the plot in a way you may or may not recognize until the last scene. The film also does an impeccable job with mise-en-scene (“setting the stage”). The racing scene where Biel rides along side the horses on her motorcycle is magnificent. Other visual staging, such as the architecture, setting, costumes, and props made the time period feel authentic. The Picasso painting, for example, that Larry supposedly posed for in the South of France, is a nice touch.
As for those who don't feel Biel was a good match for the role, perhaps Claire Danes may have also been strong for this film that felt like a play. Danes has demonstrated good stage presence, and has also mastered a range of dialects, including Eliza DooLittle in Broadway’s Pygmalion. Even a quirky Zooey Deschanel would have felt appropriate, with a dark humor to fuel the scandalous black widow back story of Larry. But Biel makes the film fly by with liveliness and youth – the perfect breath of fresh air for a stagnant and stale economy. She also draws a crowd with her commercial success and recent press playing a stripper in Blue Powder. As Scott Thomas’ character says in the film, “they’re all flocking to the party just to get a look at the woman who…” Biel's rising star is a box office bonus.
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