If you've never met a Rupert Everett-led screen adaptation of an Oscar Wilde play you didn't like, then hurry up and get in line for The Importance of Being Earnest, writer-director Oliver Parker's second such effort following the overrated An Ideal Husband.  Like Husband, Earnest is made much more accessible by its predominantly British cast, which features supporting roles from two of last year's Oscar nominees, as well as one pert American actress.

Those of you old enough to remember the Glover Cleveland presidencies might also recall the 1952 version of Earnest (with Michael Redgrave) or any one of a handful of television versions of Wilde's play (including one where an entirely different Rupert – Frazer, specifically – played Everett's role). Parker's take is lighter and a lot less stuffy, and he adds a lot of unusual things to his script, including numerous fantasy sequences, a song-and-dance number, the tattooing of a major character and a score populated by Dixieland jazz.  Most of this does not work well at all.

Everett, who hasn't done much feature-film acting since appearing in the unholy trifecta of Inspector Gadget, A Midsummer Night's Dream and The Next Best Thing in 1999 and early 2000, plays Algernon Moncrieff, a scoundrel of a Londoner who likes to live way beyond his means.  This results in numerous run-ins with bill collectors and, we are to assume, causes Algy to create an alter ego named Bumbry, which he uses to get out of social engagements and away from his creditors. He comes from a wealthy family but goes through what money he has like nobody's business.

Meanwhile, Algy's pal Jack Worthing (Colin Firth, Bridget Jones's Diary) has created a doppelganger of his own.  When he lives in the country, as the custodian of his niece Cecily (Reese Witherspoon, Legally Blonde), Jack is simply Jack.  But when he heads to London to blow off steam, he becomes Ernest – Jack's wayward brother.  Jack, who looks a lot like Peter Scolari when he dons eyeglasses, wasn't born into money (he was, as an infant, left in a train station cloakroom and discovered by his wealthy, late guardian), but he has a lot of it now.

The identity hijinks come into full bloom when Algy travels to Jack's country home, pretends to be Ernest and romances Cecily, who has always had a bit of a crush on Ernest despite only having heard of his exploits in London (she's never met him). As if that weren't crazy enough, Jack's city fiancée, Gwendolyn (Frances O'Connor, A.I.), who happens to be Algy's cousin, is on her way out to the country, but she thinks she's engaged to somebody named Ernest.  Confused?  You should be.

All of this wackiness seems to be filler for Earnest's two very funny set pieces, which involve Iris's Judi Dench (she plays Gwendolyn's mom and Algy's aunt) dressing down Jack/Ernest for wanting to marry into her family. She's great in these two scenes, which feature hats as large and intricate as those worn in Baptist church on Sunday.  There are a lot of extremely humorous lines that still work well today, but there isn't much else going on here. Everett and Witherspoon have no chemistry whatsoever, though the latter does very well with her English accent.  The production remains somewhat entertaining, thanks to cinematographer Tony Pierce-Roberts and art director Luciana Arrighi, who both worked on Howard's End and A Room With a View.

1:40 –

for mild sensuality