A Good Woman Photo

A Good Woman

Starring: Helen Hunt, Scarlett Johansson, Tom Wilkinson, Stephen Campbell Moore, Mark Umbers

Directed by: Mike Barker

RS: 2of 4 Stars

2006 Lions Gate Films All Movies

Those lips, those eyes, those curves. Scarlett Johansson has the right look and pout for period films. And Oscar Wilde's 1892 play Lady Windermere's Fan, rather clumsily updated to 1930s Italy by screenwriter Howard Himelstein, benefits from her lush presence. Woody Allen's Match Point seductress plays Meg Windermere, a New York newlywed vacationing with her husband, Robert (Mark Umbers), on the Italian Riviera. When Robert starts sneaking around with notorious femme fatale Stella Erlynne (Helen Hunt, in a miscasting coup of epic proportions), Meg thinks the worst. If only it were so. In the hands of director Mike Barker (Best Laid Plans), the sex here is all tell, no show. Nanny McPhee has more erotic sizzle. Except for the expert Tom Wilkinson as Tuppy, a wealthy swain of Stella's, the acting ranges from amateurish to atrocious. Hunt's flat delivery is mercilessly cruel to Wilde's delicious epigrams. That sound you hear is Oscar spinning madly in his grave.