The opening scenes of Irwin Winkler's "De-Lovely" are hardly promising: Kevin Kline--in old man's makeup--playing songwriter Cole Porter, being led somewhat reluctantly by a friendly guide through his colorful, extravagant life filled with friends, lovers, and his longtime wife and supporter, Linda (it smacks a bit of Dickens). Still, director Winkler and screenwriter Jay Cocks are able to tell Porter's story in a fluid and interesting fashion, starting about the time he met Linda, the most beautiful divorcée in Paris, in 1919. The musical numbers are interjected subtly--they're either part of a show or rehearsal, a nightclub performance, or a fantasy-twist on the scene in question--giving this biography an aural and visual kick. Kline and Ashley Judd manage to create a very nice rapport as husband and wife, she with failing health and he busy consummating affairs with other men. Their loyalty in friendship is tastefully handled. In fact, the whole movie is tasteful, and this is both pro and con. Porter's homosexuality is pussyfooted around in a playful manner (so as not to discourage heterosexual audiences), yet his fickle sexual nature is only reflected in Linda's ever-increasing dismay. Imagine this picture as directed by someone like Bob Fosse, who may have envisioned Porter's more decadent side with some grit. "De-Lovely" slides on and off the screen, with a blackmail subplot brought up and then forgotten about. It will no doubt charm those in the mood for a non-think, sweetly sentimental tale, though the finale is reminiscent of Fosse's "All That Jazz", and the collection of modern singers (Robbie Williams, Elvis Costello, Sheryl Cow, et al.) give the film an anachronistic bend which seems purely and inexplicably intentional. **1/2 from ****
Review of De-Lovely
