December 30, 2008.

delightful, smart & fun.

Rating: 4
I won't mince words: I adored The Jane Austen Book Club. It was intelligent, warm and real. Impressively, in less than two hours, the film managed to deal with more than six storylines well. Sure, it's a little schmaltzy, but it's oddly satisfying. The film (based on Karen Joy Fowler's book of the same name) is not only an ode to Jane Austen, but to literature as a whole, especially its resonance over the years. As Jane Austen's novels are too, this movie is about life, love, loss, trust and friendship.

The cast was brilliant: Mario Bello, Kathy Baker, Emily Blunt, Amy Brenneman, Hugh Dancy, Maggie Grace, Jimmy Smits and Lynn Redgrave. It was wonderful to see Emily Blunt have so much to do, especially after seeing her do little but smoke a joint and take her clothes off in Charlie Wilson's War. Mario Bello was fantastic. Despite so many excellent female performances, Hugh Dancy stole the movie. He was charming, dapper, awkward and ultimately endearing.

In so many ways, this movie comes dangerously close to being cringe-inducing and cheesy. Wonderful acting and the back drop of both intellectual and catty banter about Jane Austen firmly anchors this story in a respectable space. I'm not claiming the film itself is brilliant, but many pieces of it are, and it's ridiculously entertaining and moving. I can't wait to see it again.

December 16, 2008.

Unfortunate.... .

Rating: 2
How sad I am to report being so disapointed in this movie with such a great title and such huge potential. The story plot is weak and predictable, the acting slow and you find yourself wanting to shout: move on!! Sadly not worth the efforts. Great bus/hospital or plane movie, but 3/10 says it all.
For overseas customers like myself, my DVD arrived in great time, but in a poor condition. The disc came loose from its poor casing and got badly scratched. Think twice about ordering without asking for the DVD od CD to be made 100% secure.

December 06, 2008.

lightweight chick-lit chick-flick.

Rating: 2
Great premise, but the execution was so contrived; each Jane Austen book selection neatly reflecting in the life of one of the members. Shallow treatment, poor character development, and the obligatory Hollywood feel-good ending add up to a movie that may be fun to watch in parts, painful in others, annoying yet in others. At the end you feel like you do after eating a meal that tastes pretty good until you realize that the ingredients are bad for you.

December 28, 2008.

Worth watching!.

Rating: 4
I got this movie because I love Jane Austen.
I was completely entertained. Nice job making a modern day story that uses "Austen" themes. The movie can stand on it's own with no knowledge of Austen, but it gives you a little guilty pleasure to identify the story lines. It really does make you want to start a "Jane Austen book club".

December 28, 2008.

What cannot be forgiven.

Rating: 1
I can't forgive attaching Austen's name to this shallow and one-dimensional movie.

There were bits of promise in it, but it was disjointed and flat. A serious of not well connected moments.

Worse was the way Prudie's husband (Riley on Buffy!) suddenly was assimilated at the end. HIGHLY improbable.