De-Lovely

Writer Jay Cocks and director Irwin Winkler follow the life of songwriter Cole Porter (Kevin Kline) and his relationship with his wife, Linda (Ashley Judd). Sort of, anyway. Unlike the first Porter biopic (1946’s Night and Day), Cocks and Winkler don’t have to ignore Porter’s homosexuality, but they falsify his life almost as badly, with miscast stars (Kline’s and Judd’s considerable talents are wasted) and a jumbled chronology that uses Porter’s songs for commentary, regardless of when or why he wrote them. Worse, the songs are presented in erratic, anachronistic renditions that range from the occasionally sublime (Diana Krall and Natalie Cole) to the often ridiculous (Alanis Morissette gasping for breath through “Let’s Do It (Let’s Fall in Love”) to the downright ghastly (Sheryl Crow butchering “Begin the Beguine”).