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De-Lovely | 
 enlarge | Director: Irwin Winkler
Actors: Kevin Kline, Ashley Judd, Jonathan Pryce, Kevin Mcnally, Sandra Nelson
Studio: MGM (Video & DVD)
Category: DVD
List Price: $14.98
Buy Used: $0.50
You Save: $14.48 (97%)
New (87) Used (134) Collectible (6) from $0.50
Avg. Customer Rating:  179 reviews
Sales Rank: 7403
Format: Ac-3, Closed-captioned, Color, Dolby, Dubbed, Dvd-video, Special Edition, Subtitled, Widescreen, Ntsc
Languages: English (Original Language), English (Subtitled), Spanish (Subtitled), French (Subtitled), French (Dubbed), Spanish (Dubbed)
Rating: PG-13 (Parental Guidance Suggested)
Number Of Items: 1
Running Time: 125
Aspect Ratio: 2.35:1
Shipping Weight (lbs): 0.2
Dimensions (in): 7.1 x 5.4 x 0.6
MPN: MGMD1007346D
ISBN: 0792863631
UPC: 027616914378
EAN: 9780792863632
ASIN: B00067BBLY
Theatrical Release Date: 2004
Release Date: December 21, 2004
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
Condition: In great shape, may have light wear.
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Product Description
From paris to venice to braodway to hollywood the lives of cole & linda porter were never less than glamorous & wildly unconventional. Though coles thirst for life strained their marriage linda never stopped being his muse inspiring some of the greatest songs of the 20th century. Studio: Tcfhe/mgm Release Date: 06/21/2005 Starring: Kevin Kline Jonathan Pryce Run time: 125 minutes Rating: Pg13
Amazon.com
It's astonishing that one man could have written so many memorable songs, but musical gems keep popping up in De-Lovely, about the life and loves of Cole Porter. Played by Kevin Kline (In & Out, A Fish Called Wanda), an elderly Porter is summoned by a mysterious director (Jonathan Pryce, Brazil) to view his own story, which unfolds as a series of theatrical tableaux. The movie is open (if a bit chaste) about Porter's homosexuality, but argues that the love of his life was still his devoted platonic relationship with Linda Lee (Ashley Judd, Ruby in Paradise, Kiss the Girls). Unfortunately, the narrative suffers from the fate of many biographies; by trying to cram in a person's entire life, it ends up a collection of snapshots without depth or context. The parade of celebrity singers (Alanis Morissette, Sheryl Crow) were apparently chosen for their jarringly modern vocal mannerisms. --Bret Fetzer
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| Customer Reviews: Read 174 more reviews...
 music November 24, 2008
I bought this for the music and information on the life of Cole Porter.
It was a good movie but didn't have as much music as I expected. It was
interesting to see a bit of a young John Barrowman.
 Disappointing, But For Different Reasons Than I Expected October 25, 2008
1 out of 1 found this review helpful
I am one of those gay men to whom straight friends always say, "How come you think everybody in the world is gay?" I am also one of those gay activists who refused to even CONSIDER seeing "Shakespeare In Love" because I've been told that that film is devoid of the even the slightest hint that The Bard also liked men. So, when I read some of the reviews of De-Lovely that flat-out declared it a revisionist version of Cole Porter's sex life, with little focus on his gay affairs and most of the plot concentrated on his heterosexual marriage, I was prepared to hate this film before I even saw the trailer. I collect films with gay content. Because I was told that this film is at least marginally gay, and since I love the work of Cole Porter, I brought the film and mentally prepared myself for a disappointing experience, or maybe even an evening of aggravation. When the end credits were rolling, I found I wasn't half as disappointed as I thought I would be, and that in itself was a pleasant surprise. In fact, this portrait of Cole paints him exactly the way I have always understood him to be - that is, a gay man who happened to marry a woman whom he truly loved. It also maintains that his love for his wife had little or no effect on his relations with men, which is also exactly the way I have always understood that he lived his dual life. Given the times he lived in, he was extraordinarily upfront about his sex life, and I found no inconsistency with how he managed both of his sex lives (with men and women) and juggled a high-profile career at the same time.
The flashbacks are easily the best part of the picture, and they should have left well enough alone. Instead, we get the ridiculous premise that an unnamed director escorts the dying Cole Porter to view a live stage piece / film biography of himself. This scenario is so tired that every time the flashbacks lapse, you cringe with embarrassment for the people who created this film, and the leaden pace that permeates those scenes is almost too much to bear. Not only do they interrupt the narrative, while the flashbacks are halted, Porter offers comments and does his best to "correct" the facts, all the while turning melancholic and teary-eyed when images of his dead wife appear.
Even worse news - for the most part, the musical numbers are absolutely pathetic. First of all, if you're going to make a musical (and this film is advertised as a musical), it would be a good idea to let the music be heard. Instead, we get renditions of Porter's best songs in which all his snappy verses are completely obscured by dialogue. This is not only supposed to be a musical, it's supposed to celebrate the genius of Cole Porter, arguably the greatest Tin Pan Alley composer of the twentieth century. So why are his brilliant lyrics hidden behind snatches of bad screenwriting? Then there are the performances of the songs themselves. Most of the songs are assigned arrangements that are much too modern for a period piece. In particular, the songs Love For Sale (Vivian Green), Just One of Those Things (Diana Krall) and Ev'ry Time We Say Goodbye (Natalie Cole, in the worst renditions of this song I've ever heard - and I used to like her a lot) are all utterly savaged by up-to-the-minute arrangements that brought Cindy Lauper to mind. The worst reading by far was by Sheryl Crow, who destroys the delicate melody of Begin The Beguine, and had me yearning for Ella Fitzgerald, Fred Astaire or just about anybody else from the actual period. If it wasn't for Elvis Costello, who was one of the few performance artists in this picture who seemed to understand that it's set in the 1920's-1940's, and the delightful Caroline O'Conner, whose vocal imitation of Ethel Merman is so spot-on it's scary, the soundtrack would be a total waste. Costello and O'Conner alone save the day and make the music come to life. Of course, Kevin Kline doesn't sing very well, but neither did Cole Porter, so that was acceptable. The scene where Porter coaxes an actor into believing he can sing the difficult Night and Day was brilliant, and may be the best scene in the film. On the whole, I wasn't as disappointed with De-Lovely as I expected to be, at least not for the reasons that I thought I would. The biographical information was fairly accurate, Kline's performance was quite believable, and in particular, Ashley Judd's portrayal of Linda Porter was quite well realized.
Flawed, yes, but not as hard a slap in my gay face as I was afraid it might turn out to be.
 Cole Porter, Warts and All October 1, 2008
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As the story of Cole Porter, DE-LOVELY is perhaps the best, most imaginative movie musical biography ever made. Unlike NIGHT AND DAY, the 1946 whitewashed Porter biography that starred Cary Grant and Alexis Smith, this film presents the composer with all his warts exposed.
In other words, the Irwin Winkler-directed movie deals frankly with Porter's bi-sexual lifestyle, which often was quite indiscreet.
Kevin Kline and Ashley Judd are deeply moving as Porter and his his patient, loving wife, Linda.
From Paris to Venice to Broadway to Hollywood, the Porters lived a glamorous and wildly unconventional existence that the composer boasted about in such chic songs as "Let's Misbehave" and "Anything Goes".
The film begins with Porter as a bitter old man, visited by a mysterious figure (Jonathan Pryce) who we soon surmise is the Angel of Death. Suddenly, the two men are in an empty ragtag theater where Porter's life is presented to him as a musical revue that features his friends, both living and dead. The songs lead us into flashbacks of Porter's life, with the emphasis on his great love for Linda, who died many years earlier.
Many of the songs in the film are performed by some of today's most popular recording artists, including Elvis Costello, Sheryl Crow, Natalie Cole, Robbie Williams, Diana Krall and Alanis Morissette. However, the two most memorable numbers are "Be a Clown," sung by Kline in a scene set on the MGM Studio lot and the very emotional "Blow, Gabriel, Blow, sung by Pryce and the entire cast.
Michael B. Druxman, author of ONCE UPON A TIME IN HOLLYWOOD
Good musical September 10, 2008
Let me state my bias up front. I loathe musicals. There are very few I like- especially from the so-called Golden Era of Hollywood. That's because the whole convention of people breaking into song at a difficult moment always strikes me as forced and phony. There are exceptions, though. The Sound Of Music because of....well, I loved Julie Andrews as a child, Evita because there's only one spoken line in the film- it totally divorces itself from the conventional musical format, and Moulin Rouge because while there is some speaking, it's even more lush and lavish than Evita. The 2004 Irwin Winkler film De-Lovely, a biopic of Tinpan Alley composer Cole Porter, is one of those rare musicals that work because it is a unique approach to both a musical and to a portrait of the artist, the man who wrote, among many other indelible hit songs, It's De-Lovely, Let's Misbehave, Anything Goes, Be A Clown, I Love You, and Ev'ry Time You Say Goodbye. This film works because it is not a pretentious film, and in that regard most reminded me of Amadeus, the portrait of another musical genius, Mozart, told with another innovative framing device for the tale- the life of the main character told through the eyes of his envious rival.... De-Lovely is worth a couple of hours of your life.
Almost Elegant June 5, 2008
"De-Lovely" is the perfect film for someone who loves the music of Cole Porter but knows little about his life. Ashley Judd steals the movie as Linda, the socialite who marries the young composer, aware of his homosexual ways but loyal to him regardless. Kevin Kline, inevitably, is too manly in his portrayal of someone whose gayness was as pronounced as was Porter's. I expected more of the Monty Woolley character, Cole's friend since their days together at Yale...and the omission of Elsa Maxwell from the script left an odd gap: she'd been such a colorful part of his life, even in the bad days after his horseback fall that cost him the use of his legs. But all things considered, it is probably the best film bio of an American songwriter ever made: I only wish the list of those had been more competition for "De-Lovely," and that more of its singers could have done more than a passable job with his songs, which when all is said and done were the reason this film was made.
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