De-Lovely

Directed by Irwin Winkler. Written by Jay Cocks. Starring Kevin Kline, Ashley Judd, and Jonathan Pryce.

MGM - 2004

Two Stars of Review! **

Cole Porter was a man of incredible talent. He was also an ass and a pig. At least that's what I've gathered from watching “De-Lovely,” a biopic that does what so many tiresome biopics do: it assaults the audience with a non stop parade of debauchery.

In fact it isn't so much a film as it is a series of vignettes set in enviable places with enviable people doing enviable things. Paris, Hollywood, and many many other locations serve as a back drop for Porter's ceaseless partying and homosexual trysts, all while his wife looks on in increasing despondency.

What do we get to know about Cole Porter? His catalog of music features some of the finest songs ever written. He had a strong sexual preference for other men yet the film asserts that he loved his wife deeply. Just not enough to spare her a life of endless humiliation and grief. Was there nothing else to the man?

And what of Mrs. Porter? At no point do we get any real sense of who she is or why she is willing to put with her husband. She seems to be little more than a nurturer who found a talented man-child to take care of. Unfortunately the last thing Cole Porter seems to have needed was another enabler in his life.

These events are accompanied by performances of the songs they inspired. Suddenly we find that certain lyrical undertones are a bit dirtier than we might have thought. Sounds clever, but some one got the not so bright idea of bringing in loads of pops stars who do little more than butcher the material. Hell, the only actual jazz singer in the bunch gets the shortest and least memorable piece.

As I get older I become less and less enchanted with the idea of talent and the kind of leniency it can buy you. Porter may have been something of a genius, but he seems to have been a bad person. Devotees might find something to love in all this mess, but I can't imagine what. It felt more like a headache educing litmus test for homophobes.

Available on DVD.