Fry's headlong style helps rescue the movie from the deadly trap of antiquarianism". Roger Ebert of the Chicago Sun-Times said the film has "a sweetness and tenderness" and observed that Stephen Fry was "the obvious choice to direct this material". He added, "He has a feel for it; to spend a little time talking with him is to hear inherited echoes from characters just like those in the story. He supplies a roll-call of supporting actors who turn up just long enough to convince us entire movies could be made about their characters". Carla Meyer of the San Francisco Chronicle called the film a "witty, energetic adaptation" but thought "Fry, so deft with lighthearted moments, seems uncomfortable with Waugh's moralizing, and more serious scenes fall flat". She added, "Bright Young Things is like a party girl on her fourth martini. What had been fun and frothy turns irretrievably maudlin". Peter Travers of Rolling Stone felt Fry was "clever" for adapting Waugh's novel "into a movie that would make Paris Hilton feel at home", although "By the time [he] lets darkness encroach on these bright young things…the fizz is gone, and so is any reason to make us give a damn". Derek Elley of Variety called the film "a slick, no-nonsense adaptation…an easy-to-digest slice of literate entertainment for upscale and older auds that lacks a significant emotional undertow to make it a truly involving—rather than simply voyeuristic—experience…Fry's script fillets out even the few traces of a darker underside that creep through in the second half of Waugh's original. Modern auds, accustomed to more emotional payback for the characters' earlier excesses, will come away empty-handed. There's basically very little dramatic arc to the whole picture. Still, Fry and his tech team have put together a good-looking, smooth-running movie". Michael Wilmington of the Chicago Tribune described it as "a brilliant, giddy satiric romp with a discreetly moralistic viewpoint beneath its high-style wit", "a ball to watch", and "an incredibly entertaining film with a magnificent cast", and called Fry "a splendid director capable of visual dazzle and superb ensemble work". Awards and nominations Fenella Woolgar was nominated for the London Film Critics Circle Award for British Supporting Actress of the Year, the Empire Award for Best Newcomer and the British Independent Film Award for Most Promising Newcomer. References External links 2003 films British drama films 2003 drama films Films based on British novels Films