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Review

Bright Young Things is a wild ride depicting the lives of the idle rich in 1930s London. Adam (Stephen Campbell Moore) returns home broke, but with the hope of earning enough money to marry his sweetheart Nina (Young Adam's Emily Mortimer). He gets a job writing a society column for newspaper tycoon Lord Monomark (Dan Aykroyd) that traces the every move of the "Bright Young Things," the coterie of friends that comprise society's upper-crust partygoers. As he charts the outrageous antics of the hilariously daft Agatha (Fenella Woolgar) and the flamboyantly gay Miles (Michael Sheen) and others, Adam quietly prepares for the sobering hangover to come.

In his directing debut, actor Stephen Fry delivers a witty and accomplished adaptation of Evelyn Waugh's novel "Vile Bodies", capturing the frenetic pace of the all-night parties, the power and politics of the tabloid press, and the impact harsh reality has on the young and carefree.

Bright Young Things also features sumptuous costumes and sets, along with a superb supporting cast that includes Jim Broadbent, Peter O'Toole, and Stockard Channing (who provides one of the film's highlights with her hilarious rendition of "There Ain't No Flies on the Lamb of God"). So grab some champagne and toast Fry's wicked and masterful tour through 1930's London nightlife.

Gary Kramer