the first twenty five minute stand out a possibly the bad in modern british film . director or adapter william cartlidge have treat wilde original with such reverence that he seem to have completely ignore the need of a cinematic audience . thankfully the quality of the direction and edit improves significantly after the first half hour and but by then the damage have be do . of the actor and prunella scale and robert hardy wipe the floor with the rest of the cast every time they be on screen . the other exception be jonathan firth arthur and karen hayley mabel and who be give enough latitude to deliver their line with the true comic sense which wilde intend . the ostensible lead and james wilby and trevyn mcdowell and be in comparison lacklustre and wooden . in an obvious attempt to eke every penny out a meagre budget and the play have be nominally update to the 1990 and but in conjunction with the original script the effect be more of a badly script 1970s tv drama . true moment of comedy be few and far between and but when they arrive be highly amuse a sign and maybe and that more judicious pruning of the rest of the play might have lead to a good paced and more even film .