An Ideal Husband 1999

Susan Stark, Detroit News: Read more

Stephen Holden, New York Times: In adapting the play, Mr. Parker has streamlined and rewritten Wilde's dialogue, keeping some (but not all) of Wilde's biting epigrams and scraping off a lot (perhaps too much) of the Victorian crust. Read more

Kevin Thomas, Los Angeles Times: Wilde was always about lots more than witty repartee, and as sparkling as his play is as drawing-room comedy, it reveals his concern with the timeless values of unselfish love and forgiveness. Read more

Jeff Millar, Houston Chronicle: Parker has made a sensible cinematic translation of Wilde's play, intercutting scenes which would have been played consecutively on the stage. Read more

Owen Gleiberman, Entertainment Weekly: An enjoyable, minor, lustrously shot revamping of Oscar Wilde's play about the perpetually interlocked manners of love and deception. Read more

Globe and Mail: [I]t's likely that Mr. Wilde, who once wrote, 'A poet can survive anything but a misprint,' would have been less than thrilled with the result. Read more

Jonathan Rosenbaum, Chicago Reader: Much of the four acts of An Ideal Husband, a serious comedy, is constructed out of flip one-liners, most of which remain, though Parker has added a few, all unworthy of the master. Read more

Peter Rainer, New York Magazine/Vulture: Our familiarity with the actors, and their comfort in this period setting, lend the piece an unexpected air of naturalism. Read more

James Berardinelli, ReelViews: An irresistible concoction of brilliant dialogue, sumptuous set design, top-notch acting, and a plot littered with Machiavellian twists. Read more

Roger Ebert, Chicago Sun-Times: An Ideal Husband works because Wilde created an expert mechanism (kind of slow-motion serious screwball comedy) for manipulating the plot and characters. Read more

Stephanie Zacharek, Salon.com: Parker, who himself adapted Wilde's play for the movie, takes what to purists may be an unforgivable number of liberties with the story, fleshing out the plot and even adding dialogue. Read more

Edward Guthmann, San Francisco Chronicle: [T]his Husband plods and ambles and bears the burden of a soundtrack that resembles a wimpy meditation tape. Read more

Time Out: The bright, crisp design, Wilde's arch eloquence and a classy company help to camouflage the shortcomings. Read more

Derek Elley, Variety: Smooth-flowing direction, a shrewdly pruned script and a top-flight ensemble cast that visibly relishes both the dialogue and one another's perfs make this a tony item for upscale, mature audiences. Read more

Amy Taubin, Village Voice: [The] film is hardly memorable, but it's amusing enough for two hours, and it never panders or cloys. Read more