This film is bad, bad, bad. I love Jane Austen books and movies. I loved Clueless. But I honestly can't see why this gets so many good reviews.
Gwyneth Paltrow spends the movie with pursed lips and an expression like she's smelled something foul. Emma is supposed to be condescending, yes - but she's also supposed to be silly, fun, and devoted to her family. You don't get ANY of that from Paltrow. She's just mean and arrogant. Moreover, you don't get the underlying melancholy subtext about Emma - that she is likely to end up like poor Miss Bates. I must say Paltrow did well with the accent, and only obviously dropped it a couple of times.
Sophie Thompson - usually a talented actress - is a total ham and turns Miss Bates into a caricature. She sounds like a stuttering Bugs Bunny.
Ewan McGregor is wasted as Frank Churchill; somehow, the director managed to entirely erase his magnetic charm. Alan Cumming is also wasted as a hammy, clownish version of Elton.
Toni Collette is terribly miscast as Harriet Smith. Harriet Smith is supposed to be a sweet-tempered, beautiful young idiot. Toni Collette couldn't be described as girlish; worse, she acts like an intelligent and confident woman obviously trying to play the fool.
Jane Fairfax doesn't look like a girl of twenty who is the equal in age and background to Emma. Jane Fairfax looks like a sultry older bombshell and acts like it, too.
That said, I thought Denys Hawthorne was charming as the hypochondriacal Mr. Woodhouse. And Jeremy Northam was perfect - charming, handsome, and he turned in a brooding and understated performance that was in stark contrast to the rest of the cast.
Watch the version starring Romola Garai or even Clueless. Both are much better acted and plotted than this version.
Gwyneth Paltrow spends the movie with pursed lips and an expression like she's smelled something foul. Emma is supposed to be condescending, yes - but she's also supposed to be silly, fun, and devoted to her family. You don't get ANY of that from Paltrow. She's just mean and arrogant. Moreover, you don't get the underlying melancholy subtext about Emma - that she is likely to end up like poor Miss Bates. I must say Paltrow did well with the accent, and only obviously dropped it a couple of times.
Sophie Thompson - usually a talented actress - is a total ham and turns Miss Bates into a caricature. She sounds like a stuttering Bugs Bunny.
Ewan McGregor is wasted as Frank Churchill; somehow, the director managed to entirely erase his magnetic charm. Alan Cumming is also wasted as a hammy, clownish version of Elton.
Toni Collette is terribly miscast as Harriet Smith. Harriet Smith is supposed to be a sweet-tempered, beautiful young idiot. Toni Collette couldn't be described as girlish; worse, she acts like an intelligent and confident woman obviously trying to play the fool.
Jane Fairfax doesn't look like a girl of twenty who is the equal in age and background to Emma. Jane Fairfax looks like a sultry older bombshell and acts like it, too.
That said, I thought Denys Hawthorne was charming as the hypochondriacal Mr. Woodhouse. And Jeremy Northam was perfect - charming, handsome, and he turned in a brooding and understated performance that was in stark contrast to the rest of the cast.
Watch the version starring Romola Garai or even Clueless. Both are much better acted and plotted than this version.