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By all accounts, songwriter Cole Porter was just as charming and sophisticated as the lyrics he wrote for such classic pop tunes as “Night and Day,” “You’re the Top,” “Begin the Beguine,” and “It’s De-Lovely,” all of which are heard in this elaborately mounted biographical film. But Porter, who spent his last 27 years crippled and in pain from injuries sustained in a riding accident, was a man of great contradictions. For instance, despite his obvious affections for Linda Lee Thomas, the wealthy socialite to whom he remained married, he continued to pursue male lovers. Costars Kevin Kline and Ashley Judd adroitly capture Cole and Linda’s dynamic here, playing the roles very much like the protagonists in a Depression-era stage musical or a Fred Astaire-Ginger Rogers movie. They glide gracefully and seemingly effortlessly through life, enjoying the finest of everything and numbering among their friends many of the most famous and fascinating people of the pre-World War II era. Yet Cole has needs that Linda cannot meet; it’s a measure of their worldliness that she tolerates his dalliances because she’d rather have him some of the time than not at all. Screenwriter Jay Cocks employs an endearingly corny device to tell Cole’s story: The tunesmith’s life unfolds as a series of scenes rehearsed on a heavenly stage under the direction of an angel (played by Jonathan Pryce). In many respects, filmmaker Irwin Winkler -- who previously directed Kline in Life as a House -- re-creates the period accurately, though the use of contemporary pop artists (Alanis Morissette, Elvis Costello, Sheryl Crow) is a jarringly discordant note in the otherwise pitch-perfect replication of a bygone era. That aside, De-Lovely is as delightful and delicious as you could hope. Ed Hulse

All Movie Guide

The public and private lives of famed songwriter Cole Porter are both explored in this musical drama, in which the aging Porter (played by Kevin Kline) looks back on his life while watching a rehearsal of a stage musical based on his story. As Porter compares notes on the play with director Gabe (Jonathan Pryce), he shares thoughts on his rise to fame in the mid-'20s, writing witty and sophisticated tunes for a string of successful Broadway musicals. Porter seemed to be living a charmed life when he met Linda Thomas (Ashley Judd), a beautiful American woman who, like Porter, was enjoying a sojourn in Paris following the collapse of her first marriage. Thomas is immediately taken with Porter, whose intelligence and charm is a welcome change after her brutal first husband, and the two discover they share a remarkable understanding of one another. Porter and Thomas marry, even though she's aware that her new husband is gay; Thomas is willing to forgive Porter's indiscretions with other men in favor of the emotional support he brings her. However, as the years wear on and the couple takes up residence in Hollywood as Porter begins writing tunes for motion pictures, Thomas finds Porter drifting away from her as his liaisons become more frequent and more serious. Then tragedy enters their life when Porter loses the use of his legs in a riding accident and Thomas is diagnosed with cancer. De-Lovely features a number of noted pop singers interpreting classic songs from Porter's catalog, including Diana Krall, Sheryl Crow, Alanis Morissette, Elvis Costello, Robbie Williams, Mick Hucknall, and others. Mark Deming

Product Details

• UPC: 883904126577
• Source: MGM (VIDEO & DVD)
• Time: 2:05:00
• Sales Rank: 24,719

This DVD is also available as part of a box set:

• American Movie Musicals - Vol. 2
• The Fox-MGM Hollywood Musicals Collection