De-Lovely

2004 musical biopic

Rating: 11/20

Plot: Cole Porter's musical life flashes before Kevin Kline's eyes.

My dad had this movie sent to me. I really liked the music, and I liked a lot of the extended shots transitioning from stage to flashback or from one time to another time.

I'm not sure if Cole Porter's story is worth telling or not, unfortunately, because I was distracted by clumsy pacing and direction and some moments that made me either roll my eyes or laugh inappropriately. The best example of the latter is when a horse falls on Kevin Kline's legs and he's required to act like he's in pain. Having an angel take Porter on this musical journey through his life might seem like a cute idea on paper, but I really got tired of the whole thing pretty quickly. I didn't like Kline's performance, and Ashley Judd was apparently much too young to play Porter's wife who was actually older than him.

I felt every single bit of the two hours and five minutes of this film. It was a real endurance test.

Cole Porter is from Indiana, by the way. You don't have to pay me any extra for this bit of trivia.