MARRIAGE TREATISE IDEAL, RELEVANT.

Byline: Glenn Whipp Film Critic

Two summers ago, Rupert Everett tossed off arch one-liners while looking smashing in designer duds in the romantic comedy ``My Best Friend's Wedding.'' Audiences were charmed. Now, he's brought his painfully (and marvelously) dry delivery back for a more restrained summertime romp, ``An Ideal Husband,'' an enjoyable Oscar Wilde adaptation that has much to recommend beyond the way Everett looks in a tuxedo.

But make no mistake - this is Everett's movie. Writer-director Oliver Parker has fashioned this minor Wilde work into a vehicle for Everett's sparkling way with an epigram, and the dashing Brit delivers each and every one with an understated remorse that nicely connects with the material. He makes it look ridiculously easy.

Everett plays Lord Goring, London's most eligible bachelor and man about town (circa 1895). Everyone wants Goring to tie the wedding knot, but Goring seems philosophically opposed. ``To love oneself is the beginning of a lifelong romance,'' he tells his manservant Phipps (the priceless Peter Vaughan) early in the film.

While Goring cultivates that romance and dodges the overtures of the lovely Mabel (Minnie Driver) and the proddings of his proper father (John Wood), we meet the film's title character, Sir Robert (Jeremy Northam). He seems, without question, to be an ideal husband, what with his devotion to his beautiful wife Gertrude (Cate Blanchett) and his high standing in London's House of Commons.

One problem: Sir Robert has a skeleton in his closet. And a conniving adventuress named Mrs. Cheveley (expertly played by Julianne Moore) is threatening to expose it unless he agrees to support a financial scheme she's backing. Sir Robert, then, must choose between principles and his position, not an easy decision for a man who believes his wife would leave him were she to discover that he's less than perfect.

``Without my wife, I am nothing,'' Sir Robert tells Lord Goring.

Those are desperate words, and, in writing the play, Wilde wanted to point out that the problem wasn't necessarily with Sir Robert, but with the wife who put her husband on an impossibly high pedestal. The film uses its setting (the closing years of a century - the 19th) and the political dilemma of its title character to draw some intriguing parallels to modern times. The message is clear: Imperfections are what make us human. Embrace them.

Parker keeps things moving at a brisk pace, even if, at times, the film feels more staged than it should. Caroline Harris' costumes are gorgeous and Michael Howell adds the sumptuous production design that is perfectly suited to the period's high times, not to mention the Miramax brand of filmmaking.

Indeed, brimming as it does with corsets, costumes and cleverness, ``An Ideal Husband'' seems to be stamped with the mark of Miramax just as much as ``Tarzan'' bears the Disney imprimatur. And in both cases, we see why it's often smart to go with the brand names over their generic competitors.

THE FACTS

The film: ``An Ideal Husband'' (PG-13; brief sensuality).

The stars: Cate Blanchett, Minnie Driver, Rupert Everett, Julianne Moore, Jeremy Northam.

Behind the scenes: Written and directed by Oliver Parker, based on the play by Oscar Wilde. Released by Miramax Films.

Running time: One hour, 37 minutes.

Playing: AMC Century 14 in Century City, Laemmle's Sunset 5 in West Hollywood, Laemmle's Playhouse 7 in Pasadena, Laemmle's Monica in Santa Monica.

Our rating: Three stars.

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Photo: Sir Robert (Jeremy Northam), left, is viewed as the perfect husband by his wife (Cate Blanchett), he confides in Lord Goring (Rupert Everett) about an affair in ``An Ideal Husband.''