De-Lovely MGM Home Video   Reviewed by Tony Buchsbaum	Cole Porter is perhaps one of the most prolific, memorable songwriters of all time. Sure, there are others who rank right up there with him, notably George and Ira Gershwin, Richard Rodgers, Lorenz Hart, Oscar Hammerstein II, Irving Berlin -- and in modern times there is of course Stephen Sondheim. But when you look at Porter's work, you find an amazingly daring playfulness in the lyrics. Porter was an extremely sexy writer. I mean, take just one example, from the Silk Stockings song "All of You": I love the look of you, the lure of you, the sweet of you and the pure of you. The eyes, the arms, and the mouth of you. The east, west, north, and the south of you... Case closed. The fact is, Porter not only had a way with a song, he had his way with it, too, and the result is a body of work that's virtually unparalleled in the history of American music. Now the story behind the man has been told in a wonderful film called De-Lovely, newly available on DVD. Starring Kevin Klein as Porter and Ashley Judd as his wife Linda, De-Lovely provides an intimate musical portrait of a man who had plenty of money, plenty of style, and plenty of desire to write terrific songs. One of the ways that Chicago broke Hollywood's recent no-musicals barrier was by grafting a concept onto the work that hadn't been there before. In Chicago's case, the songs were staged in such a way that they became elements of Roxie's imagination. De-Lovely is structured in a way that allows its own songs to come to life on a new and revealing level: It is the end of Porter's life, and he's sitting with Gabriel -- An angel? A director? -- viewing scenes from his life, played out on a stage before him. It's an ingenious structure on which to hang the elements of a film. Director Irwin Winkler gives it the space it needs while also using it to restrict the storyline in a way that keeps it moving. We see pieces of Porter's life, arranged so that they make sense, and we also get the older Porter's commentary on what's happening. It's quite surreal, as if it were Porter's commentary on a DVD of his own life. The story itself follows Porter's marriage to Linda and his subsequent massive success as a Broadway and Hollywood musical composer. Behind the scenes, Porter was also busy indulging his passion for young men. Linda didn't stand in his way; she loved him that much, and she knew what she was getting when he married him. Their love for each other bloomed big despite his dalliances. They gave each other a legitimacy; she wasn't his beard, but his other half. They were each other's real lives, away from the bright lights of the stage. Kevin Kline gives what may be the performance of his career, giving himself over fully to Porter's love of song and life. Kline drinks it all in as if it were freely-flowing champagne. But as unforgettable as he is, the real revelation here is Ashley Judd. She radiates a pinpointed beauty, as if lit up by her husband's music and the love it generates within her. Together, they were a couple who had it all, despite his wanderings and their inability to have children. It's a brilliant portrayal, done in partnership. Irwin Winkler's direction is mostly restrained and sometimes startling, especially in the moments when he transitions from the older Porter watching a scene to actually being in the scene as it happens. Often done in a single movement of the camera, Kline ages backward, from the old man who's seen and done it all to the one still discovering the joys of life one party, one lyric, one passion after another. The film is punctuated by some of Porter's most memorable songs performed by some of the most talented singers working today. Among them are Alanis Morissette singing "Let's Do It," Elvis Costello singing "Let's Misbehave," Sheryl Crow singing "Begin the Beguine," and Natalie Cole singing "Ev'ry Time We Say Goodbye." In addition, Kline and Judd do magnificent work on "In the Still of the Night," "Experiment," "Night and Day," and "What a Swell Party This Is." De-Lovely is the kind of film that doesn't seem like a musical, even though it certainly is one. It's a great love story, a moving drama and so much more. I have a feeling it would be brilliant without all the music, and in a strange way I think that's one of the things that makes the best musicals work. In this particular case, the music isn't the meat and potatoes, it's the mouthwatering gravy. The De-Lovely DVD is packed with extras, including commentary tracks by director Irwin Winkler and screenwriter Jay Cocks, a making-of documentary, several deleted scenes and more. What a swell party, indeed. | April 2005   Tony Buchsbaum is the author of Total Eclipse. He and his family live in Lawrenceville, NJ, and he is Creative Director/Copy for a pharmaceutical ad agency in Philadelphia.	De-Lovely provides an intimate musical portrait of a man who had plenty of money, plenty of style, and plenty of desire to write terrific songs.