Bright Young Things (2004)

"This is a wickedly funny skewering of a prewar London society gone mad with frivolity.  Jami Bernard, New York Daily News
"A brilliant, giddy satiric romp with a discreetly moralistic viewpoint beneath its high-style wit.   Michael Wilmington, Chicago Tribune

Editor's Note Based on VILE BODIES, the novel by Evelyn Waugh, this colorful trifle is set in 1920s London at the height of its raucous swing era, when society balls and bacchanalian behavior were all the rage. Adam (Stephen Campbell Moore) is a young, carefree writer whose circle of eccentric friends keep him out at parties all night long. Wild costumes, dancing, cocktails, cocaine, and positively "divine" company make a life of neverending revelry totally attainable. While Adam never seems to have a dime in his pocket, he does not seem to care. The only thing he risks is the opportunity to marry his glamorous sweetheart Nina (Emily Mortimer) whose father insists she wed for financial gain. In an effort to appease Nina and her father, Adam gleans a few dollars from his job as a gossip columnist, until his intimidating boss (Dan Aykroyd) fires him for inventing fashion trends. But every dollar makes is lost within no time at all on whimsical materialistic purchases and risky endeavors such as betting on horses. Finally the war starts, bringing the decadence to a disturbing halt and forcing Adam to finally sober up. A quaint period piece full of jumping Charleston music and stylish suits and gowns, Stephen Fry's BRIGHT YOUNG THINGS is light and easily digestible entertainment.

	Dan Aykroyd
	Emily Mortimer
	James McAvoy
	Jim Broadbent
	Michael Sheen
	Peter O'Toole
	Stephen Campbell Moore
	Stockard Channing
	Alex Mackie - Editor
	Evelyn Waugh - Based On Novel By
	Gina Carter - Producer
	Henry Braham - Cinematographer
	Miranda Davis - Producer
	Stephen Fry - Screenplay
	Stephen Fry - Director

Entertainment Weekly
"[Fry's] instincts are, happily, subversive. His cast is crème de la Brit." 08/20/2004 p.103

Movieline's Hollywood Life
"[S]umptuously mounted....Writer-director Stephen Fry guides the huge cast with finesse..." 07/01/2004 p.86

New York Times
"[W]hat distinguishes this one is its dash and vigor....The camera, rather than composing the action into a presentable pageant, plunges in, capturing the madness of the era in a swirl of colors and jolting close-ups." 08/20/2004 p.E1

Los Angeles Times
"The cast is as enormous as it is spectacular..." 09/10/2004 p.E6

Chicago Sun-Times
"The movie has a sweetness and tenderness for these characters..." 09/10/2004 p.34

Rolling Stone 5 of 10
How clever of actor Stephen Fry (Wilde): He makes his debut as a director by adapting Evelyn Waugh's - Peter Travers

Chicago Sun-Times 9 of 10
As pure comedy, Bright Young Things would be funny up to a point, and then repetitive. Waugh - Roger Ebert