The prestigious Broadcast Film Critics Association which is culled from the most senior reviewers around the United States is currently rating "Easy Virtue" at a high of 77. This is a culmination of terrific reviews which began back in Toronto with high praise from the three major industry magazines: Variety, Screen Daily and The Hollywood Reporter.With the release of the film over the Memorial Weekend (May 22nd, 2009) in Los Angeles and New York, other great critics have waded in in support of the film.
In the L.A. Times, Betsey Sharkey writes that "There are probably no better hands to entrust virtue o any sort to than those of writer-director Stephan Elliott... [He has] created a wonderfully rich battle for propriety in "Easy Virtue." The humor might sting, but the pain is worth the pleasure."
In USA Today, senior reviewer Claudia Puig says "Easy Virtue goes down as light a fizzily as a flute of Champagne tossed back in an airy drawing room."
Ella Taylor at The Village Voice described it as "deliciously cheeky" with a "uniformly great cast."
Rex Reed at in the The Observer writes, "The stifling repression endemic to the British class system is so impeccably preserved that it connects with modern audiences, and young people allergic to period pieces are likely to embrace the message about the need to break from the shackles of the past and open a window to a brave new future." ... "Easy Virtue is romantic, clever and artfully crafted. All told, a sparkling, classy and ultimately satisfying experience."
Also New York Times critic Stephen Holden made it the pick of the week with four out of five stars. "The film uses ingenious visual symbols - curved oval mirrors and stuffed animals - to suggest the Whittakers' warped Victorian values and the deadness of a culture Larita finds unendurable"
Perhaps best of all for a film which is designed to attract a younger audience as well as the traditional demographic for period drama - Rolling Stone Magazines' reviewer, Peter Travers in his pithy review sums up with: "Stephan Elliott uncorks a rare vintage of laughs tinged with heartache."
