There's something about spending an interminable amount of time on your sofa that transforms you from a discerning critical thinker into someone willing to watch even the most drab pop culture in the hope it'll proffer a transient glimmer of distraction. 

Blithe Spirit certainly served that purpose, turning my head for a brief moment from the tedium of daily life. Edward Hall's adaptation of Noel Coward's classic comic play has a glittery cast. Set in 1937, Judi Dench plays Madame Arcati, a medium trying to salvage her reputation following a "levitation" gone badly wrong — the diamond in the gilt crown of this film. Dan Stevens takes the lead as Charles Condomine, a celebrated writer and pathetic mess of a man, who can no longer string a sentence together. Isla Fisher plays his beleaguered wife Ruth, who struggles to live up to the memory of Charles' deceased former wife. That struggle takes mortal form (well, more like immortal, actually) when Madam Arcarti accidentally brings Charles' dead wife Elvira back from the grave — played by Leslie Mann — only for her to wreak havoc on all their lives.