bronweis
Bought the movie without knowing anything about it, because of stars Ashley Judd and Kevin Kline. I did have to watch it more than once before I "got it". The key to understanding the film, is think of it like Dickens' ghost of Christmas past. And realize that Angel Gabriel is showing Cole his life, flashed before his eyes. Then we begin..Loved the idea because of the period. Like ANY truly amazing work of artistic genius, you have to give this movie a once-over before it sets in. Once, to watch the biography. Once to soak in the Linda and Cole love story. Once to understand the complexity of Cole Porter's true nature. He is truly in love with Linda, yet has other preferences- for men.Strangely, made me think of Freddy mercury (see Queen: A Night at The Opera, documentary). Finally, you settle into the musicality of this film. Re-watch several times, and like a fine wine or a groundbreaking new album, you realize the genius that is in Cole Porter's lyrics, musical writing, and larger-than-life personality. Actress Caroline O'Conner does an unreal Ethel Merman-esque performance. How did this film not win multiple Oscars? Actress, Actor, screenplay, etc, etc. Standing ovation to entire musical cast, theatrical performers, and all the amazing hard work. <3 thank you. thank you. thank you. Want to see this on stage!!!
hcoursen
This is better than the Grant/Alexis Smith pic, in which "In the Still of the Night" is sung as a Christmas carol while Porter is still living in Indiana, but some great songs are undercut by their treatment. Why must we watch "Night and Day" sung while the singer touches Cole's heart? That's excruciating, particularly when the straight rendition, of which we get half a chorus, is brilliant. Of the many songs left out, Porter's greatest -- "I Concentrate on You" -- is the one most egregiously omitted. If the music is good, let it be. Natalie Cole's "Love for Sale" is superb, sung, it seems, in a male brothel. Crow's minor "Beguine" is somewhat beguiling, undercutting as it does the song's movement to a triumphant validation: "Oh yes, let them begin the beguine, let the stars that were there before return above you." But I wish we had had the contrasting version. The homosexual stuff and Mrs. Porter's sentimental longing for a little girl of her own is overdone and unnecessary. That's all irrelevant now. It is the music that still counts and this film does not do it justice. That's a disservice to a generation that might really perk up if it heard what this greatest of our songwriters had written, even if in some of the original settings. The verse of "I Love You," for example, is one of the best things Porter ever did ("If a love song I could only write..."). Here we only got the refrain, which is banal, as Porter knew it was. As a disc jockey, I learned that you never voice-over a singing voice. Here, it happens all the time. As someone said, get Ella. She doesn't have the ironic touch for some of the songs, as she was humbly aware, but you hear the lyrics.
mso88
Brilliantly staged, superb performances by Kevin Kline and Jon Pryce, and those great Cole Porter songs (the reason for buying the DVD). And yet this film is profoundly strange, lurching between musical and biopic, as ambivalent as Porter's sexual orientation. Screenwriter Jay Cock's tone-deaf dialogue saps critically-needed energy from the film while characters stop the action to deliver formal speeches rather fire clever quips from the hip. But what can we expect from a film-critic-turned screenwriter? De Lovely needs more stacatto Hollywood dialogue that matches the style, grace, and elegance of the art direction and cast performances. DeLovely is actually 2 films at war with one another: an elegant, snappy musical versus a dull, literary biopic. And the winner is the musical.
bob_bear
I wanted to think of a wittier summary but "rubbish" pretty much sums it up.Kline portrays Porter with the same shallow, prissiness that he applied to his character in "In & Out". He does self-obsessed and superficial very well...which is more than can be said for his singing.The bio-pic is inaccurate and misleading. Nothing I have read about Porter would lead me to believe that Linda was the great love of his life or that she inspired his lyrics. So the "love story" aspect was a non-starter from the get-go.The idea of Porter watching his life played out on stage was an interesting premise but the execution was woeful. Especially the big finish with "Blow, Gabriel! Blow!" which was embarrassingly bad.Why James Wilby, Kevin McNally or Keith Allen got involved I do not know. Their characters were so superfluous.I nearly switched off after fifteen minutes. In the event, I should have trusted my nose. It could smell a stinker from the start.
AD
