Metacritic reviews

De-Lovely is something dishy and rare: a biopic about a happy, and even enchanted, man.

At its best, De-Lovely evokes a time, a place and a sound with stylish wit and sophistication.

As a bio-pic, De-Lovely is pretty standard, run-of-the-mill stuff (albeit with an interesting framing device). However, as a "best hits" collection of Cole Porter's music, it is unparalleled.

Kline, though, does give one of the great movie performances of the year so far.

Benefits greatly from Kevin Kline's outstanding performance as the ultra-sophisticated songwriter whose resilient marriage anchored a complicated double life.

A sprightly musical revue built around Cole Porter songs and a few biographical tidbits culled from his extraordinary life.

Though director Irwin Winkler takes pains to accurately present Cole's life (unlike "Night and Day," the 1946 biopic starring Cary Grant), the film has its shortcomings. First of which is pushing the love story, when it's clear Linda's feelings aren't reciprocated.

If Porter's songs are so timeless, why does the movie sound like something that might have played on VH1 five years ago?

If you're a Cole Porter fan you might like the songs in De-Lovely, but as a portrait of an unusual marriage it's de-lumbering, de-liberate and de-cidedly flat.

Openly gay and overwhelmingly glum.