Customer Reviews
Maybe would have worked better as a TV series - By: Lukens, 19 Oct 2007 
I found this a bit of a "meh" film. Watchable enough, but nothing to really grab you. Fairly slow moving, & that's mostly because not really much happened.
In many ways it felt a bit like a TV drama, or soap even, where different characters' lives crossed paths with each other, & I was kind of left with a felling that if you'd got to know the characters a bit more, & spent a bit more time with them, then it may have been a bit better. So I feel it could have worked better as a TV series, broken down into several episodes, & extended to give more background & depth to the characters & story.
As it was, there wasn't really much depth to the characters, so I didn't really have any feelings for any of them, & most of them didn't really seem very believable. Whether this was just because there wasn't timein the film to develop the characters, or was actually due to a poor script or bad casting, is another matter. I think certainlyin the case of Helen Hunt, it was was down to bad casting. Her character, as other reviewers have said, just wasn't believable. I just didn't buy into the idea of her being a serial seductress, wooing rich & handsome men around the world.
I found it perfectly enjoyable whilst watching it, but it didn't leave any lasting impression on me, & I'd not go out of my way to watch it again.
Helen Hunt strikes again! - By: Mad Kaz Roberts, 16 Feb 2007 
Thoroughly enjoyed this film, although my Mother fell asleep! Perfect Sunday afternoon viewing for me. Good storyline, & not quite as predictable as some films, nice little twist to it. This is a must for romantics, but i'm not 100% sure if i am biased because I simply like Helen?? I haven't seen herin a bad film yet!
The miscasting is mightier than the engaging storyline - By: Daniel Jolley, 21 Nov 2006 I really went back & forth with this film. In the end, though, I just couldn't get past the fact that even a good script based on the work of a literary genius like Oscar Wilde just can't overcome the deleterious effects of problematic acting. I can't bring myself to say bad acting because I think Scarlett Johansson is a very good actress & - while I don't really care for her - Helen Hunt is as well. Neither was very goodin One Good Woman, however. The blame must really fall on the director & casting director, though, as neither actress really belongedin this film. Helen Hunt may well have tried too hard to fill the role of the adventuress, man-chasing Mrs. Erlynne, resultingin a slow & careful (sometimes stultifying) delivery of dialogue that gives rise to no feeling or charisma whatsoever. With very little charm at her disposal, it becomes difficult to believe that so many men fall so easily under her spell. As for Johansson, she seems totally out of her element here, clearly uncomfortable throughout many a scene. Fortunately, Tom Wilkinson & the fellows I affectionately call "the old geezers" come bearing the quick wit & natural bearing called forin this type of satirical treatment. That allows the script to shinein places, thereby saving the whole project from disaster.
Clearly, this film takes many a liberty with Oscar Wilde's classic drama Lady Windermere's Fan, yet it still wields quite an impressive sword of satirical wit here & therein the script. The story is basically an attack on the hypocrisies of gossip vis-à-vis high society, something Wilde knew quite a bit about. Lady Meg Windermere (Scarlett Johansson) is a young newlywed livingin idyllic bliss with her husband Robert. Wealthy, attractive, & well-to-do, she thinks she has the perfect marriage to a man she trusts implicitly. Then Mrs. Erlynne shows up, having left New York rather hastily, courtesy of several wives anxious to see her depart from their husbands' lives. Mrs. Erlynne has always relied (and indeed prospered mightily) on the kindness of strange men, earning her quite a reputationin 1930s America and, rather quickly, Italy. She & Robert Windermere are soon the hot topic of local gossip, with nosy well-to-do women tracking their private meetings & going quite apoplectic about it to one another. When word finally filters down to her, Meg is quite stunned & contemplates some rather rash action of her own. Meanwhile, dear old Tuppy (Wilkinson), a man with his own share of past social indelicacies, quite falls for Mrs. Erlynne & proposes marriage - to the chagrin of all his marriage-hating buddies. These are the lovable "old geezers" I was talking about, & they constantly delight the viewer with short, stinging, & remarkably witty complaints about the institution of marriage.
I won't attempt to chronicle the shifting layers of this film, for the plot takes a number of delicious turns along the way. The plot's solid, as is the writing. Indeed, I would sometimes find myself pulled into the story rather engagingly, but the magic always departed once Hunt and/or Johansson turned up for a more serious scene. That proves to be too much for this film to overcome. Yes, it's always a treat to reexplore Victorian sensibilities (even if they're arbitrarily shifted to 1930s Italy), but A Good Woman never exhibits the first sign of life or energy, plodding its way through a story that could have & should have been much more enjoyable.
A good movie - By: RD, 07 Aug 2006 The script is beautiful with lots of wit & eloquence that isn't seen very oftenin movies. The acting is fabulous & one can't help but get very attached to the characters. Plus the movie isn't without its twists which is a bonus.
Helen Hunt plays a lady who is hated by women & loved by men for the simple reason that she is an infamous mistress who lives off the money of her suitors. After the unhappy wives conspire to have her cut off from their husbands' purse strings she hatches a plan to travel to Amalfi & find new blood.
Meg (Scarlet Johansson) is married to a rich American, Robert, who ends up being blackmailed by Helen Hunt after he goes home with her one day. His friend Johnin the meanwhile has developed feelings for Meg & after hearing the gossip about Robert & his mistress decides that it is time to strike.
In addition to these characters are the numerous Americans on holidayin Italy who have nothing better to do than spy on others, gossip & party away thus ensuring there is never a dull momentin the little town on the Italian coast.
This is a must see movie & Helen Hunt shinesin her lead role.
"It takes a lot of skill and practice to live without regrets," - By: M. J Leonard, 13 Jun 2006 The lovely Mrs. Erlynne has a problem. Spurned by all the society ladies, for discreetly servicing their husbands, she can no longer afford to spend her days livingin New York as the "woman of ill repute." Suddenly she finds herself an outcast & penniless, so she decides to travel to Amalfi Coast of Italy, where she hopes to squeeze some cash out of some fresh prey.
She sets herself on the young newlyweds Robert & Meg Windermere (Mark Umbers & Scarlett Johansson) &in the process; she hopes to find herself a new man. But Mrs. Erlynne also holds a secret, a secret that if made known, will threaten to destroy the young couple's marriage. Robert doesn't want his wife's peace disturbed & doesn't want her to know about the secret; yet Mrs. Erlynne takes advantage of the situation, after all, she desperately needs someone - preferably an aristocrat to keep herin the lifestyle to which she has become accustomed.
Neither Robert nor Mrs. Erlynne, however, have reckoned on the vituperative nature of the Italian aristocracy. Amalfi is a hotbed of idol gossip, with the elegantly rich entertaining themselves by spying on each other, soaking up all the scandal wherever they can find it. Almost instantly, conjecture becomes facts. Mr. Windermere's clandestine meetings with Mrs. Erlynne are quickly mistaken for a tawdry affair. The fire flares when Meg finds check stubs paid to Mrs. Erlynnein her husband's desk.
Word quickly gets around, especially with a woman such as Mrs. Erlynne & her past threatens to catch up with her The only person who doesn't judge her is the lovable & kindhearted - & very rich - Tuppy, a bachelor who yearns to marry his match. Meanwhile, the caddish Lord Darlington (Stephen Campbell Moore) is courting the innocent Meg, & she's quite enamored of him.
Everyone is soon immersedin a maelstrom of illicit liaisons & racy sexual politics. Meg is convinced her new husband is having an affair, whilst Mrs. Ermine is fraught with confusion - a born outsider, marriage has never been for her, yet she's getting a little too old to be constantly branded as such a "loose" woman. In A Good Woman the wealthy are sarcastic, bitter, witty & conniving just as much as they are innocent, emotional, regretful & honest.
Based on Oscar Wilde's Lady Windermere's Fan, director Mike Barker does a fabulous job of drawing the Wilde social satire out of the drawing room, & opening up the play to Italyin the 1930's & incorporating some of the most beautiful & sparkling Riviera vistas as a backdrop, The production design is unsurpassed - the film is lush, exotic & absolutely gorgeous to watch, there's never a scene or an image wasted.
The acting is also strong. Hunt beautifully captures, Mrs. Erlynne's vulnerability & pain - she's a damaged & lonely woman, who obviously loves money & the sort of lifestyle it can bring, but she's also a realist & doesn't hesitate to play the shameless vamp with a knack for insinuating herself into the beds & checkbook registers of men who should know better.
Tom Wilkinson absolutely nails the very wealthy but lonely Tuppy with the required tragicomic pitch that brings forth a great deal of self-effacing charm. And of course the beautiful Scarlet is extremely good here & manages to seem naïve & vulnerable without tipping into melodramatics. Oscar Wilde liked men with a future & women with a past. In a Good Woman he wouldn't be disappointed, as the film is full of colorful & endlessly pithy types who seek to escape their past mistakes, yet seem to have a real love for life. Mike Leonard June 06.
