nicely done, hollow, unfulfilling

I like period pieces and Stephen Fry is no slouch in this genre. Bright Young Things is an affectionate, albeit superficial, homage to pre-WW2 Britain. And that's just how Fry wants it.

LOVE this movie. I wasn't so fond of the more serious bits near the end, but overall it's worth watching over and over.

Saw this at Regent Christchurch on my own.

From my first encounter with Stephen Fry once the 1990 "Jeeves and Wooster" came to PBS I've enjoyed him. Then Hugh Laurie showed up on one of the few TV shows we've liked that has lasted.
BYT is Fry's first directing effort. It is funny, sad and ro... (read more) From my first encounter with Stephen Fry once the 1990 "Jeeves and Wooster" came to PBS I've enjoyed him. Then Hugh Laurie showed up on one of the few TV shows we've liked that has lasted.
BYT is Fry's first directing effort. It is funny, sad and romantic, if the sale of a friend can be romantic. The cast is great, with the older generation played by stars one knows, including O'Toole trying out for his role in "Venus." The young things were apparently less known, but are excellent (Emily Mortinmer, Stephen Campbell Moore, James McAvoy, Michale Sheen and Fenella Woolgar.)

Sizzles with Jazz Age energy, sparkles with champagne wit and roars along like a Grand Prix race car.

Busy, unfocused, yet still acridly funny and moving.

Fry, in his directing debut, shows an eye for style, a fine literary intelligence and an unmistakable heart.

Waugh's novel and Fry's movie wisely see that their characters live by spending their comic capital and ending up emotionally overdrawn.

You walk away from Bright Young Things believing that, by and large, Fry has gotten Waugh as well as any filmmaker could be expected to.