Rupert Everett, Julianne Moore, Jeremy Northam, Cate Blanchett and Minnie Driver
Political Scandel, Sexual Intrigue... Rupert Everett is Clinton's Idol
Many of you may have heard the irony associated with An Ideal Husband and our own scandle here at home with our President. However this romantic comedy has a lot of laughs with brains to match. If you can still find it in the theaters I would recommend you go see it.
Rupert Everett as the forever young Arthur Goring
Sir Robert Chiltern (Jeremy Northam, Amistad) is a perfect gentleman in 1890's England. He is a rising star in the Parliment with high political aspirations, he has a lovely wife in Lady Gertrude Chiltern (Cate Blanchett, Elizabeth) and is socially connected with such people as the popular Lord Arthur Goring (Rupert Everett, Shakespeare in Love, My Best Friend's Wedding). However, Sir Robert has a deep dark secret of how he obtained his fortune and therefor how he become eligible for Parliament. When Laura Cheveley (Julianne Moore, Boogie Nights, Nine Month) arrives in London and threatens to reveal his secret unless he publically supports a venture that would help her financially. Now Sir Robert must chose between his morals of being a good member of Parliament and rejecting a venture that he feels is bad for the country or keeping his good political name and supporting it. Thrown in with this moral dilema is the ssexual tension running through the social scene of London. Lord Goring (hereafter refered to as Arthur) is the "stud" of the town who is desired by Laura Cheveley as a trophy husband and by Sir Robert's sister Mabel Chiltern (Minnie Driver, Tarzan, Good Will Hunting) for good old fashioned infatuation.
Sir Robert (Jeremy Northam) and his Gertrude (Cate Blanchett)
An Ideal Husband is not a blockbuster by any sense of the word... it has no huge stars (with the near exceptions of Everett and Driver), no large budget of special effects (or any special effects at all) and no fast paced plot. But, it does have very good acting, great dialogue and great comic timing. Rupert Everett gives the best performance as the forever young, never grow up man who wants to remain a confirmed bachelor but realizes he has to settle down sometime. Jeremy Northam plays a very good, and straight Sir Robert who is just trying to keep his career and marriage going and the supporting characters of Cate Blanchett, Minnie Driver and Julianne Moore as excellent especially Driver's Mabel who is constantly chasing after Arthur. The script is smart with great dialogue that makes you laugh and makes you think. All in all it keeps you wanting to watch, which is really all you can ask of a film.
