Young things have never come much brighter than Stephen Fry.

The Cambridge graduate was a millionaire before he was 30 after re-writing Noel Gay's musical Me & My Girl.

A successful TV star (Blackadder, Jeeves & Wooster), a consummate film actor (Wilde, Gosford Park), he also found time to write successful novels (Liar, Making History).

And if you for one minute thought he might be getting too big for his artistic boots, he's also a convicted credit card fraudster.

With such impeccable credentials, it was only a matter of time before Fry chanced his eye behind the camera...and this is the result.

Based on Evelyn Waugh's Vile Bodies (Fry changed the name because he thought it wouldn't go down well in the Land of the Lardbucket), it tells the story of the 'Bright Young Things'.

These were a glamorous crew of well-connected bon viveurs, fuelled by champagne and 'party sal'" while serenaded by the new-fangled gramaphone. By comparison, the denizens of Chinawhite look very staid indeed.

Among their number is Adam (newcomer Campbell Moore), who is wooing the mercurial Nina (Mortimer) but hamstrung by his lack of cash and constantly frustrated by his efforts to get some.

They run with a privileged pack that includes inter-war Julian Clary clone Michael Sheen and the wonderful Woolgar, a sort of Lady Victoria Hervey-with-wit but an even more slender grasp on reality.

The casting agent must have been hired a press gang to work its way through the Ivy, such is the clutter of luvvies here, including Simon Callow (quelle surprise!), Peter O'Toole, John Mills and Richard E Grant.

Fry's only real weakness is two pretty grim characters as the main players in a love story that you find yourself caring little about.

However, he is particularly strong towards the end when things get considerablty darker, as the endless search for riskier sensations threatens to engulf the unwary.

As sleek and refined as a vintage Bentley, this purrs along with Fry with his foot down but still firmly in control.

Tim Evans