"Bright Young Things" 2003

Bright Young Things is a 2003 British drama film written and directed by Stephen Fry. The screenplay, based on the 1930 novel Vile Bodies by Evelyn Waugh, provides satirical social commentary about the Bright Young People: young and carefree London aristocrats and bohemians, as well as society in general, in the late 1920s through to the early 1940s.

The primary characters are earnest aspiring novelist Adam Fenwick-Symes and his fiancée Nina Blount. When Adam's novel Bright Young Things, commissioned by tabloid newspaper magnate Lord Monomark, is confiscated by customs agents at the port of Dover for being too racy, he finds himself in a precarious financial situation that may force him to postpone his marriage. In the lounge of the hotel where he lives, he wins £1000 by successfully performing a trick involving sleight of hand, and the Major offers to place the money on the decidedly ill-favored Indian Runner in an upcoming horserace. Anxious to wed Nina, Adam agrees, and the horse wins at odds of 33-1, but it takes him more than a decade to collect his winnings.
Meanwhile, Adam and Nina are surrounded by a young and decadent crowd, whose lives are dedicated to wild parties, alcohol, cocaine, and the latest gossip reported by columnist Simon Balcairn, known to his readers as Mr. Chatterbox. Among them are eccentric Agatha Runcible, whose wild ways eventually lead her to being committed in a mental institution; Miles, who is forced to flee the country to avoid prosecution for his homosexuality; Sneath, a paparazzo who chronicles the wicked ways of the young and reckless; and Ginger Littlejohn, Nina's former beau, who ingratiates himself back into her life, much to Adam's dismay. The pastimes of the idle rich are disrupted with the onset of World War II, which eventually affects their lives in often devastating ways.


Stephen Campbell Moore — Adam Fenwick-Symes
Emily Mortimer — Nina Blount
Fenella Woolgar — Agatha Runcible
Michael Sheen — Miles
Dan Aykroyd — Lord Monomark
David Tennant — Ginger Littlejohn
James McAvoy — Simon Balcairn
Jim Broadbent — The Major
Julia McKenzie — Lottie Crump
Peter O'Toole — Colonel Blount
Stockard Channing — Mrs. Melrose Ape
Simon Callow — King of Anatolia
Imelda Staunton — Lady Brown
Bill Paterson — Sir James Brown
Simon McBurney — Sneath
Richard E. Grant — Father Rothschild
Jim Carter — Chief Customs Officer
John Mills — Gentleman
Alex Barklay - Jimmy Vanburgh