- Hank Sartin, Time Out, November 18, 2011
These are good actors telling a good story, so the virtue is indeed easy to grasp, and a fine time should be had by all.
- Tom Long, Detroit News, June 12, 2009
A winning, witty fox trot through the Roaring 20s, when men were men, women were liberating themselves and the 'to the manner born' were losing their grip on their manners -- and manors.
- Roger Moore, Orlando Sentinel, June 11, 2009
Jessica Biel gets more publicity for her body and her boyfriend than for her acting ability, but Easy Virtue may be cause for a reassessment.
- Bill Goodykoontz, Arizona Republic, June 10, 2009
What might've been a scrumptious, chocolatey dessert of a movie -- a Noel Coward delite -- is instead a scoop of lemon ice, not filling, faintly sweet and mostly water.
- Dan Zak, Washington Post, June 05, 2009
Full of forced jocularity and drawing-room hissy fits, with its cast parading around in vintage threads and antique cars, Easy Virtue is a close-to-insufferable souffle based on the 1925 Noel Coward play.
- Steven Rea, Philadelphia Inquirer, June 05, 2009
The only characters who seem anchored in some form of reality are the hero's parents...all the others, from siblings to servants, are standard-issue eccentrics or the subjects of running gags.
- Jonathan Rosenbaum, Chicago Reader, May 29, 2009
[Director] Elliott had a choice in Easy Virtue, to turn away from the horror or face it. He takes his time, but he eventually does face it -- and delivers up a good movie.
- Mick LaSalle, San Francisco Chronicle, May 29, 2009
Full of gorgeous architecture and sightlines but a bit too cold for comfort and with an all-too pervasive air of tedium.
- Bruce Demara, Toronto Star, May 29, 2009
Elliott nearly turns the whole affair into a musical, with characters singing snatches of Coward and Cole Porter songs. But his sense of humor is extremely broad.
- Michael Phillips, Chicago Tribune, May 29, 2009
There's supposed to be some distance between the main character and the family she marries into — but that distance probably shouldn't include acting styles.
- Bob Mondello, NPR, May 28, 2009
Those coming in cold may be forgiven for thinking they've wandered into Atonement remade as a farce.
- Ty Burr, Boston Globe, May 28, 2009
Easy Virtue has enough traces of Coward's wit to keep you hoping for the first hour or so, but then the film collapses under the weight of too many misguided innovations.
- Liam Lacey, Globe and Mail, May 28, 2009
Unusually for a play by Noel Coward, Love struggles while conquering All in Easy Virtue, a subversive view of British country-house society between the wars.
- Roger Ebert, Chicago Sun-Times, May 28, 2009
Jessica Biel in a teacup-rattling '20s period piece? With her lewd pinup grin and husky flat voice, she sticks out like a sore starlet in Easy Virtue -- but that's the whole point in this loosely 'freshened up' version of a Noël Coward play.
- Owen Gleiberman, Entertainment Weekly, May 27, 2009
Funny, but ordinary.
- Ben Mankiewicz, At the Movies, May 26, 2009
Biel delivers the best performance of her young career.
- Ben Lyons, At the Movies, May 26, 2009
It lumbers instead of dazzles, drags where it should feint and jab.
- Connie Ogle, Miami Herald, June 04, 2009
Echoing the words of the great Porter song, Easy Virtue deliciously misbehaves.
- Moira MacDonald, Seattle Times, June 19, 2009
Easy Virtue has all the elements for a sprightly romp with serious underpinnings, and occasionally it achieves that balance. But it's marred by attempts at farce that are as belabored as they are ill-advised.
- Calvin Wilson, St. Louis Post-Dispatch, June 11, 2009
