Movie Review: De-Lovely

I want to thank Moulin Rouge, the post modern musical from four years ago. Or maybe I should blame it. For without it, wouldn't have seen the recent upsurge of Hollywood musicals. The problem? No one is taking the time to see what happened before--like watching a few New York stagefests to see exactly what a musical is made of.

Which brings us to this latest ditty. It was an interesting time to release this picture, amoung the hullaballoo of Spidermen and Aliens vs Predators. I'm thinking that they did it as counterprogramming, figuring not everyone goes to the big budget special effects fests the summer churns out.

So in that manner, it was a nice respite from getting my ears blown off from a loud sound system or being treated like an idiot with a plot that a nine-year-old can grasp. De-Lovely is borderline art house in that respect.

Now I have two reviews for this movie. Mine and the critical one. For myself, I liked this movie. I knew the words for a majority of the songs, having been brought up on the musical theatre and pop standards. This movie is a Cole Porter dream, telling his life story in the form of a Hollywood musical. At certain points throughout the movie, you can see current music talent warbling Mr. Porter's hits in the background (or foreground), adding the needed lift to scenes. I sang right along and went starry eyed at the cameos.

But now the critical stuff. Folks, this is a middle ground movie. It has too many good and bad parts that don't mix. I blame the writing. I always do. The storyline tries to bring a new twist to Cole Porter's life. The problem? Outside of being gay and married to a woman, there's not much interesting going on. He was boring. In today's day and age, being gay isn't nearly enough to be enthralled, or at least, it shouldn't be. His relationship with his wife, played excellently by Ashley Judd, is a very large part of the film and where it does hit it's few high notes. They have a very unique relationship, more like a best-friendship, that gives each strength in ways I did not predict. But it's not enough to stretch a movie over two hours.

Yes, two hours. I felt like I was watching a European movie--they have no concept of editing overseas, it appears. There were sequences that went way too long and some that were not even needed.

Musicals are surreal, plain and simple. They are usually self-effacing and celebratory. They even talk about it during the movie, where Cole, facing death, played by Johnthan Pryce, wonder if the opening number should be a ballad or not. So there is some knowledge there. But then they don't even listen to themselves. There's a huge dance number to end the picture on (yeah, my heart sang!) and then they cut to Cole at the piano with Linda Lee, his wife. How sweet but not needed at all.

What Hollywood needs to do is what they did when talkies were born. Los Angeles producers ran out to New York to grab all the playwrights they could find. Why? To write good dialogue. Boy, those days are gone. Seems like they are combing some elementary schools these days for words on paper. New York is experiencing a certian theatrical comeback since 9/11, trying to woo tourists back to their perspective houses. Why not mine these great showboats, Hollywood? It's an idea. This movie could have benefitted, that's for sure.

It's not to say this movie is so bad, you shouldn't go see it. Kevin Kline's respectful turn as Mr. Porter is Oscar caliber, really. You can see his theatre training in the ways he plays the room in scenes. And I've already mentioned Ashley Judd. It's nice to see her not play a cop in some bad mystery for once. Here's a niche for her, dramatic acting. She's got the skill for it.

This is surely a middle of the road pic. If you like Cole or theatre, go for it. But you aren't into dramatics, well, then maybe the Alien flick next door is the answer.