Easy Virtue is a social comedy in which a glamorous American widow, Larita, meets and impetuously marries a young Englishman, John Whittaker, at the Monaco Grand Prix.

Veronica, already predisposed to dislike her new daughter-in-law, is further disappointed to find that Larita is American and, like Jim, speaks fluent French.

Larita makes some inadvertent gaffes, accidentally killing the family chihuahua and giving some joking advice to Hilda that unfortunately results in embarrassment to, and enmity from, the sisters.

Larita is bored and miserable in the countryside and hates blood sports like hunting, and any of the entertainment that country English people seem to enjoy.

Hilda receives a newspaper cutting from her uncle in America revealing information about Larita's first husband, an older man dying of cancer.

In his autobiography, Present Indicative published in 1937, Coward describes his object in the play as being "to compare the déclassée woman of to-day with the more flamboyant demi-mondaine of the 1890s."

He goes on to say, "The line that was intended to establish the play on a basis of comedy rather than tragedy, comes at the end of the second act when Larita, the heroine, irritated beyond endurance by the smug attitude of her 'in-laws', argues them out of the room.

[citation needed] Filmmaker Stephan Elliott instructed Kristin Scott Thomas to play Mrs. Whittaker as a "mustache-twirling... Disney witch.

"[citation needed] Initially, the actress responded by suggesting this was the worst direction she had ever received, but later embraced her character's wickedness and somewhat haggard appearance and unflattering wardrobe.

[14] Colm Andrew of the Manx Independent gave the film 7/10 and said it was "a frothy affair but the source material is good—the script is workmanlike but at least it doesn't try to be clever and the quality of the acting makes sure the lines resonate soundly".

[15] Some critics felt that the movie's insistent jazz-age lilt is ultimately at odds with a play written in 1924 that attacks the hypocrisy, smugness and benighted values of the English landed gentry between the wars.

[17] Philip French of the Observer wrote that the film was "well enough designed and photographed, but witless, anachronistic, cloth-eared, lacking in both style and period sense",[18] while Peter Bradshaw of The Guardian attacked its script for "undermin[ing] the material by slipping arch modern phrases and gags into everyone's mouths".

[19] The critic of the Times awarded it only one star out of five,[20] whilst Nicholas Barber of the Independent wrote that "every one of Elliott's straining efforts to turn Easy Virtue into a zany, risqué farce only makes it seems stuffier and starchier".

[21] Stella Papamichael of digital spy added that British jazz renditions of "Car Wash" and "Sex Bomb" used in the film were totally distracting.

Sony Pictures Classics paid an estimated US$1 million to acquire the film's distribution rights in the US, Latin America and South Africa.