Oscar Wilde's tales of the aristocratic and the financially well-off contain wit, humor, and a farcical spirit. Although A Good Woman -- the film based on his play titled Lady Windemere's Fan -- leans more to drama, it's undoubtedly in the same vein as such recent Wilde adaptations as An Ideal Husband and The Importance of Being Earnest (both directed by Oliver Parker, a man who knows his Wilde). However, even though the movie has its share of crackling dialogue and wildly high-and-mighty characters, A Good Woman lacks a certain spark and energy. Plus a few of its actors look like they're lost in the script.

A Good Woman takes place in the 1930s, focusing upon the exploits of Mrs. Stella Erlynne (Helen Hunt), a woman who lives by charming her way into men's wallets. After finding herself cornered and gossiped about in New York, Stella flies to Amalfi, a quaint Italian village, to find a new means of financial support. The unlucky chap she chooses to romance next turns out to be Robert Windemere (Mark Umbers), a wealthy American visiting with friends and getting ready to celebrate the 21st birthday of his wife of one year, the shy and gorgeous Meg (Scarlett Johansson).

The town's upper-class citizens find their tongues flapping after having seen Stella, the serial mistress, in Robert's company, and it isn't long before news of the affair winds its  way to Meg, who discovers that the door to a potential romance with the dashing Lord Darlington (Stephen Campbell Moore) has been creaked open just a little bit. I should point out that all is not as it seems here, for the relationship between Stella and Robert may or may not be a product of gossip -- and that another, deeper secret is at risk of being uncovered.

With source material like Oscar Wilde, it's difficult for a film like A Good Woman not to come across as a winner in many aspects. The dialogue is snappy, sassy, and often very funny. For example, one character refers to bigamy as having one wife too many, and someone else replies, "So is monogamy." Director Mike Barker (Best Laid Plans) does a fine job of basing his film around the idea of gossip's power, how the truth transforms into an ugly monster after being buzzed-about by people who should be minding their own business. The end result is a rather pleasant soap opera of sorts, teeming with secrets, lies, and relationships kept under wraps, but it also finds the time to slip in some wry comedy and create a great period environment.

Unfortunately, the film runs into big trouble with its actors.  Helen Hunt is completely miscast here. She gives a forced performance that exudes neither the seductive slinkiness nor the world-weariness her character requires. In many ways, Hunt is like Kyra Sedgwick in Personal Velocity, cast as a seductress but stuck delivering a performance that never really fits the profile. Johansson, so astounding in Match Point and Girl with a Pearl Earring, is better off than Hunt, but she also has a few moments where it feels like she's acting instead of letting her character's emotions come naturally.

The best performances lie with the supporting players (aside from Umbers, who's so dull that you'd think he was one of the many statues you see throughout the film), and the finest one comes from Tom Wilkinson, playing a twice-divorced man who sets his sights on Stella, knowing full well she'd be in it just for the money.

Although generally strong, the script runs into a couple of rough patches, particularly in the abandoned resolution of the Darlington subplot and the hasty induction of the story's big twist, which just comes out of nowhere and leaves you wondering what brought it on in the first place.

There's a deliciously scandalous film to be made out of Lady Windemer's Fan, and there are a handful of moments when A Good Woman achieves a level of classy and bitingly funny melodrama. But there are too many other aspects of the film that let viewers down and cause us to count down the days until Oliver Parker decides to do the material his way and make himself a nice little Wilde trilogy.

MY RATING: ** 1/2 (out of ****)

(Released by Lions Gate and rated "PG" for thematic material, sensuality and language.)