Great casting, lovely performances, an appeallingly-light touch, sumptuous period detail and some great camera work make Easy Virtue an easy pleasure.
Loosely based on Noel Coward's play, Easy Virtue is the tale of cultures clashing when young Englishman John Whittaker brings home his glamorous new American bride.
Home, sadly, is a decaying country pile, ruled over by John's frostily-superior mo
ther (Kristin Scott Thomas), all icy disapproval and insistent that her son is home for good.
New bride Larita (Jessica Biel), spontaneous, free-spirited and a woman with a past, is equally adamant that home will be London, where the action is and well away from her stultifying ma-in-law.
Hovering somewhere between the two is the world-weary father-in-law scarred by the First World War into a detached bemusement with flashes of the warm heart beneath - a terrific performance from Colin Firth who's so often disappointingly one-dimensional in his other movies.
It's a potent mix for social disaster - a disaster played out with wit, style and humour against sumptuous pastoral scenes and gorgeous 1920s settings.
It's all beautifully judged and beautifully played - and even if you can see the ending coming a mile away, it's one to send you out with a smile.
Phil Hewitt
