Wilde 1997

Janet Maslin, New York Times: Mr. Fry's warmly sympathetic performance finds the gentleness beneath the wit. He conveys the sense of a man at the mercy of forces he cannot control, not least of them his own brittle genius. Read more

Kevin Thomas, Los Angeles Times: Likely to remain the definitive screen treatment of Oscar Wilde for years to come. Read more

Entertainment Weekly: Read more

James Berardinelli, ReelViews: Read more

Roger Ebert, Chicago Sun-Times: Stephen Fry brings a depth and gentleness to the role that says what can be said about Oscar Wilde: that he was a funny and gifted idealist in a society that valued hypocrisy above honesty. Read more

Carol Lloyd, Salon.com: The closest thing the movie has to a point of view is a tendentious and mystifying voice-over, in which Fry reads excerpts from Wilde's fairy tale about a selfish giant who banishes his children from his garden. Read more

Mick LaSalle, San Francisco Chronicle: Bosie is one of history's legendary bad boyfriends, and Jude Law plays him to the hilt. He's spoiled and angry, flies into bug-eyed rages and seems bent on destroying Wilde and his work. Read more

Stephen Garrett, Time Out: If anybody was born to play Oscar Wilde, it must have been Stephen Fry: not only does he look like the Green Carnation Man, but he himself is often portrayed as being too clever, too complex for his own good. Read more

Derek Elley, Variety: A tony biopic that manages to combine an upfront portrayal of the scribe's gayness with an often moving examination of his broader emotions and artistic ideals. Read more