“De-Lovely” is a film that really should have worked better than it did. It boasted a fine cast which included Kevin Kline and Ashley Judd and featured the music of Cole Porter. The film is biographical in nature, purporting to show us the life of Cole Porter through his music. Porter, on the off-chance that you’re musically challenged, was one of the Great American Composers of the early 1900’s. Actually, I’ll give you the benefit of the doubt, and hope that even if you’re only vaguely familiar with the name, you’d at least recognize the names of some of the hundreds of famous standards that wrote. (“I’ve Got You Under My Skin” and “Anything Goes” come to mind… and I can only hope they do your as well…) What’s great about the film hinges on a few important items. The first is Kevin Kline, who as an actor can almost do no wrong. Underrated to a fault, his performance is wonderful and he ably pulls it off Porter in his youth all the way through to his twilight years.

The makeup is extremely well done, but makeup alone does not create the character. Second, is the beautifully stylish way that the biography is presented. Set to Porter’s music, the film shows us Porter’s life in both real and surreal settings. One moment you see the rehearsals for a play about his life, and then in almost the wink of an eye you’re transported to the ‘real’ world setting. It would almost be startling if the transition weren’t so smooth. The sets and costume design are also quite lavish, making it obvious that no expense was spared to recreate the world in which Porter lived and loved.

But there was one near fatal flaw that undermined the richness of the production. The most noticeable is the use of the music, which is so important to the film as a whole. Instead of using versions of the songs as they were performed in Porter’s day, director Irwin Winkler opted instead to use contemporary artists such as Alanis Morrisette, Cheryl Crow, Robbie Williams and Elvis Costello to perform the music. A few of them get by alright, but for the most part their renditions are drab and lifeless. In a few cases, the performer’s voices don’t have the right sound for the song they are chosen to sing. It reminded me a bit of when Madonna had to sing Stephen Sondheim songs in “Dick Tracy.” Granted, her voice isn’t that great to begin with, but she definitely didn’t have the chops to handle Broadway style songs. Sondheim even admitted to not being able to listen to her attempt to perform his music. While the issue isn’t as extreme in “De-Lovely”, it still tends to derail the film at some very key moments.

The DVD release from MGM does offer a decent amount of extra features, including two audio commentaries. The first one is by Winkler and Kline, while the latter pairs Winkler with writer Jay Cocks. Both are fairly good commentaries, though they are pretty much straightforward, with little humor to give them a bit of life. There are also several features, two of which focus on the making of the film and the music. These were more of the standard promo pieces, but they still offered up a nice look into the production. You’ll also find a couple of scenes that were broken down for ‘Anatomy of a Scene’, as well as some deleted scenes and an alternate ending.

I’m a big fan of Big Band as well as Broadway style music from the early part of the century. At any given time you’ll catch me listening to Glen Miller CD’s in the car. So I was really looking forward to seeing “De-Lovely”, and while I found much to like about it, I just had a hard time with the way some of Porter’s classic songs were performed.

Directed by: Irwin Winkler
Starring: Kevin Kline, Ashley Judd
Extras: Commentary by director Irwin Winkler and actor Kevin Kline, Commentary by director Irwin Winkler and writer Jay Cocks, 30-minute making-of featurette,
Behind-the-music featurette, Anatomy-of-a-scene featurettes: Be a Clown, Love for Sale, Eight deleted scenes, Never-before-seen alternate ending, Theatrical trailer, TV spot
Specifications: Widescreen (2:35:1), English Dolby Digital 5.1, Spanish Dolby Digital 2.0 Surround, French Dolby Digital 2.0 Surround
Studio: MGM
Release Date: 12/21/2004
Region 1
MPAA Rating: PG-13 (Sexual Content)
Website

We'll give De-Lovely a B-.