De-cidedly good, but de-finitely not great.

Mrs. S had watched it once before, but having been on a classic song kick of late, we borrowed the DVD De-Lovely from the library and watched it together last night. If you aren’t familiar with it, it’s a movie about the life of Cole Porter starring Kevin Cline and Ashley Judd. I didn’t know much at all about Porter, so the movie was pretty interesting. The music is, of course, wonderful, and the producers got a bunch of big names – Robbie Williams, Alannis Morrisette, Natalie Cole, Sheryl Crow, etc. – to sing some of his signature tunes so we didn’t have to listen to Kevin sing/talk/whisper/warble his way through them (although there are plenty of other songs where we do). This movie makes a bit of a to do about Porter’s bi-sexuality, but thankfully, it’s handled tastefully and as Porter (apparently) did during his life, it isn’t treated as a major issue. My only gripe, and it is a small one, is that the movie seemed a little too surreal. The sets were all really bright and lavish, obviously trying to evoke “the jazz age”, but I think they could have done it better by hiring musicians instead of actors to play in the background (I get a little irritated when I hear the piano going down the scale and the pianist on the screen’s hands are going up, up, UP, or the drummer’s hitting the snare while the high-hat is going “tss-t-t-tss”). Then if they subdued the tone a little, made it just a little rough around the edges, I would have enjoyed the movie more. In retrospect, there was nothing wrong with the way the movie was shot. I just think the mood the director was trying to evoke was not the right one, especially when you consider part of the movie took place during the Depression and part also took place during WWII. Could be I was just in the mood for a slightly darker, “film noir-ish” experience. And I’m no big fan of Ashley Judd, and Morrisette’s solo was pretty grating, if you ask me. All in all, these are minor complaints, so, if you have any interest in Cole Porter and his music at all, this movie is worth renting/borrowing to check it out.