Title: Dead on Arrival
Review: The music of Cole Porter remains timeless, but his life story makes for less-than-compelling cinema, as evidenced by the mostly fictional "Night and Day" (1946). Unfortunately, director Irwin Winkler believed that young moviegoers would leap at the chance to see a Porter biography graced by contemporary vocalists such as Elvis Costello, Sheryl Crow and Alanis Morissette. For all his good intentions, Winkler should have left well enough alone. Instead, he made "De-Lovely" (2004) - the cinematic equivalent of rigor mortis. Despite sincere performances by Kevin Kline and Ashley Judd, the film never catches fire due to Winkler's incredibly flat direction, which sucks the life out of every Porter classic during its interminable two-hour length. There are better ways to honor Cole Porter's musical legacy. Avoiding "De-Lovely" is one of them.
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