Jane Austen for Dummies: Austenland
There is undoubtably a good movie to be made out of the idea of a theme park inspired by the novels of Jane Austen but the 2013 movie Austenland is not it. In fact, I felt a little embarrassed for the cast of this movie. Most of them have done better work in other movies and while it might be true -- as some critics have claimed -- that the actors were at least having fun in this movie, said fun was rarely on display for the audience.
The plot revolved around a single woman named Jane Hayes -- played by actress Keri Russell -- who blew her life savings on a trip to a British resort inspired by the novels of Jane Austen. No sooner than she got there than she was immediately disappointed. Apparently her savings were not quite enough to get her decent accomodations so she had to put up with second-best all throughout the trip. Moreover, since the resort owner -- played by Jane Seymour, who deserved better -- frowned on modern technology, Ms. Hayes was constantly trying to hide her cell phone only to eventually have it confiscated. Even worse than that, Ms. Hayes was constantly being snubbed by the resort owner who displayed a distinct preference for her richer guests. And yet in spite of all that...
Anyone who has ever seen a romantic comedy can probably predict the rest and indeed, the movie's writer and director Jerusha Hess (working from a novel written by Shannon Hale) makes little effort to keep things from being predictable. I suppose the movie has a few laughs but unfortunately, they were so few and far between that when I first watched this movie on DVD, it was all I could do to keep my finger off the fast-forward button. If you must satisfy your Jane Austen addiction, you would probably be better off with the Lost in Austen mini-series or the Jane Austen Book Club movie. In fact, I suspect you would probably be better off with almost any other movie inspired by Jane Austen since I have a hard time believing that there could exist a worse Austen-inspired movie than this.
Then again, the movie was a library rental so at least I did not have to pay $8.50 or more to see this movie. Thank heaven for small favors.
There is undoubtably a good movie to be made out of the idea of a theme park inspired by the novels of Jane Austen but the 2013 movie Austenland is not it. In fact, I felt a little embarrassed for the cast of this movie. Most of them have done better work in other movies and while it might be true -- as some critics have claimed -- that the actors were at least having fun in this movie, said fun was rarely on display for the audience.
The plot revolved around a single woman named Jane Hayes -- played by actress Keri Russell -- who blew her life savings on a trip to a British resort inspired by the novels of Jane Austen. No sooner than she got there than she was immediately disappointed. Apparently her savings were not quite enough to get her decent accomodations so she had to put up with second-best all throughout the trip. Moreover, since the resort owner -- played by Jane Seymour, who deserved better -- frowned on modern technology, Ms. Hayes was constantly trying to hide her cell phone only to eventually have it confiscated. Even worse than that, Ms. Hayes was constantly being snubbed by the resort owner who displayed a distinct preference for her richer guests. And yet in spite of all that...
Anyone who has ever seen a romantic comedy can probably predict the rest and indeed, the movie's writer and director Jerusha Hess (working from a novel written by Shannon Hale) makes little effort to keep things from being predictable. I suppose the movie has a few laughs but unfortunately, they were so few and far between that when I first watched this movie on DVD, it was all I could do to keep my finger off the fast-forward button. If you must satisfy your Jane Austen addiction, you would probably be better off with the Lost in Austen mini-series or the Jane Austen Book Club movie. In fact, I suspect you would probably be better off with almost any other movie inspired by Jane Austen since I have a hard time believing that there could exist a worse Austen-inspired movie than this.
Then again, the movie was a library rental so at least I did not have to pay $8.50 or more to see this movie. Thank heaven for small favors.
Labels: Jane Seymour, Jerusha Hess, Juana Austen, Keri Russell, Películas Nuevas IV, Shannon Hale, Un Romance de Novela
posted by Tonio Kruger at 5:10 PM
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