The Importance of Being Earnest

The Importance of Being Earnest (2002), Oliver Parker's take on Oscar Wilde, is available to watch online on iFILM. In 1890s England, two idle gentlemen share one convenient fiction — a man named Ernest, invented to escape every obligation they please.

Jack dreams up a wayward brother so he can slip from the countryside into London; his friend Algernon borrows the same alias to court Jack's young ward, Cecily. The catch: both Gwendolen and Cecily have set their hearts on marrying a man called Ernest, and nothing else will do. Once the two women compare suitors, the whole charade collapses into glorious confusion. Colin Firth and Rupert Everett play the tangled liars, Reese Witherspoon and Frances O'Connor their intended brides, and Judi Dench, as the terrifying Lady Bracknell, walks off with every scene she enters.

Wilde's epigrams land crisp and wicked, dressed up here in plush drawing rooms and sun-drenched country lawns. A fine pick for anyone who loves dry British wit and a proper comedy of manners. Stream The Importance of Being Earnest (2002) online on iFILM.