--- title: Blithe Spirit Remake Lacks Noël Coward's Delightful Acidity description: Noël Coward was one of the slyest wits of his century. This adaptation of his 1941 play scrubs away his acidity as if it were tarnish and not the actual shine. canonical: https://time.com/5940931/blithe-spirit-review/ author: Stephanie Zacharek article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2021-02-19T16:10:16.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-05-11T04:55:22.707Z article:section: Entertainment og:title: The Ghost of Noël Coward Is Nowhere to Be Found in the Dull 'Blithe Spirit' og:description: This adaptation of Coward's 1941 play scrubs away his acidity as if it were tarnish and not the actual shine og:url: https://time.com/5940931/blithe-spirit-review/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltcd48dfcac21ced39/698a1760656a3ffd5ebdb070/BlitheSpirit-Still3.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 675 og:image:alt: BLITHE SPIRIT og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: The Ghost of Noël Coward Is Nowhere to Be Found in the Dull 'Blithe Spirit' twitter:description: This adaptation of Coward's 1941 play scrubs away his acidity as if it were tarnish and not the actual shine twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltcd48dfcac21ced39/698a1760656a3ffd5ebdb070/BlitheSpirit-Still3.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # The Ghost of Noël Coward Is Nowhere to Be Found in the Dull _Blithe Spirit_ > Sponsored content. 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Terms and conditions apply. * Savings buckets are a feature of Ally Bank's Savings Account. * No ATM fees from Ally Bank at Allpoint and Moneypass ATMs plus we reimburse for fees charged by other ATM owners nationwide up to $10 per statement cycle. * Early direct deposit offers eligible direct deposits up to two days sooner. * Spending buckets are a feature of Ally Bank's Spending Account.  by [Stephanie Zacharek](https://time.com/author/stephanie-zacharek/)  ## Stephanie Zacharek Film Critic Feb 19, 2021 4:10 PM UTC  Leslie Mann as Elvira Condomine and Dan Stevens as Charles Condomine in Edward Hall’s 'Blithe Spirit' Leslie Mann as Elvira Condomine and Dan Stevens as Charles Condomine in Edward Hall’s 'Blithe Spirit'Courtesy of IFC Films  by [Stephanie Zacharek](https://time.com/author/stephanie-zacharek/)  ## Stephanie Zacharek Film Critic Feb 19, 2021 4:10 PM UTC In [Noël Coward’s](http://content.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,941819,00.html) 1941 play _Blithe Spirit_—and in the film David Lean made of it in 1941, a delectable bonbon laced with the driest of vermouth—a writer toying with the occult as research for his next novel inadvertently conjures the ghost of his first wife, who proceeds to wreak havoc on the life he’s built with his second. Coward, one of the slyest wits of his century, took the idea of pining for a loved one, drained it of all potential sentimentality, and fashioned it into a lively, sophisticated farce. Only he could make champagne out of grief. Now there’s a ginger-ale version too, not that anyone asked for it. Director Edward Hall and writers Piers Ashworth, Meg Leonard and Nick Moorcroft have taken Coward’s premise and pumped extra sugar into it, as well as some unnecessary preservatives. Dan Stevens stars as blocked writer Charles Condomine, desperate to finish a script he’s promised to his father-in-law film producer. His wife, Ruth (Isla Fisher), flutters around him supportively when she’s not tending to the couple’s lavish property, a deco moderne sprawl of a house that’s the opposite of classically genteel British taste. (The film is set in England in 1937.)  Judi Dench, Dan Stevens, Isla Fisher and Julian Rhind Tutt Courtesy of IFC Films But Ruth is losing patience with her husband. He’s been distant and preoccupied, and their love life has suffered. “Big Ben’s stopped chiming,” Charles tells his doctor friend (played by Julian Rhind-Tutt) with forced jauntiness, an un-Cowardly vibe if ever there were one. Ruth catches her husband gazing at a photograph of his first wife, Elvira, and feigns indifference. Then a seemingly phony spiritualist, Madame Arcati (Judi Dench), surprises even herself by summoning a spirit from beyond: that of Elvira, a devil-may-care blonde with a destructive streak (played by Leslie Mann). Charles—who is at first the only one who can see her—falls under his deceased wife’s spell. Meanwhile, Ruth goes about her shallow, society-lady business, even as Elvira strives to undermine her. The ensuing battle is a supernatural catfight over a man who’s hardly worth their time. [**_Read more reviews by Stephanie Zacharek_**](https://time.com/author/stephanie-zacharek/) Coward’s characters, as he wrote them, aren’t exactly likable, but they’re dazzling in their sophisticated self-absorption—you want to hang around them just to find out what they’ll say next. Not so with the versions Hall gives us here. The problem isn’t that the actors aren’t up to the _idea_ of Coward: Mann has a dizzy but sharp screwball quality; Stevens, capable of terrific, dashing goofiness, gave one of the finest comic [performances of last year](https://time.com/5915528/best-movie-performances-2020/) as a stuck-up, puffed-up pop star in [_Eurovision Song Contest: The Story of Fire Saga_](https://time.com/5858559/eurovision-song-contest-netflix-review/)_;_ and Fisher has marvelous comic timing, as well as an expressively cherubic face right out of a 1930s comic strip. But in this _Blithe Spirit,_ every gag hits with a cartoonish thud; you feel walloped rather than tickled. And the writers of this new, not-so-improved version have concocted a sentimental backstory for Madame Arcati that throws the movie’s tone out of whack. It’s as if Hall doesn’t trust his audience to appreciate Coward’s delightful acidity—he’s scrubbed all of that away, as if it were tarnish and not the actual shine. Studied and overworked, this _Blithe Spirit_ trips over its own ectoplasmic feet. 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