This is, as Oscar Wilde goes, a relatively serious piece of drama. The plot concerns two friends, one a "responsible" gentleman on a prime-ministerial track, the other a dedicatedly-dissipated, if rather charming, Narcissistic layabout. A dark act from the responsible man's past is used to blackmail him, and this, along with the interpersonal equivalent of a Keystone cops sequence, conspire to bring him down, while risky and altogether too serious opportunities arise for the master of uselessness to rescue him.
The usual perverse quips appear in dialogue, though perhaps fewer than usual for Wilde. The ambiance is marvellous, trivia mixing with intrigue. There is suspense, too!
Cate Blanchett plays the wife. Mini Driver is excellent as her friend. All the performances are first class, the attention to detail is there. I think I have still not got over the seriousness with which love is treated. Needless to say there is a happy ending, with love being celebrated, but not in the tongue-in-cheek way of Wilde at his best: He seems geniunely serious. The theme is not the ridicule of any class or type of society, it is the value of truth, the importance of true love/friendship, with a dash of commentary on forgiveness. It is a study of worthwhile, profound relationship.
This movie has all the ingrediants for artistic magnificence. I'll say 8/10... somehow not memorable, perhaps because it is less perversely ridiculous and flagrantly frivolous than, say, The Importance of Being Ernest, and more like many other (lesser) serious works?