I’m not entirely sure what the point of this film is. I suppose that Hollywood, given our current cultural battles, just loves playing in the Restoration to show that there’s nothing new under the sun. There is certainly enough familiar to modern ears to make you occasionally think you’re in one of Larry Flynt’s salons.
Ah, but you’ve got to love a film where the main character introduces himself by announcing that you won’t like him. You may not, but by God that’s the signal an interesting film lies ahead. And it’s one of the most happily quotable films in recent memory. I may have to find the play just to record some of the choicer ones. There’s only one that sticks in my mind: scolded by his mother that “Any man can drink,” the title character replies that “. . . few can do it with my dedication.”
I think I want that carved on my tombstone.