The worst of all modern Austen adaptations

Rating: 1/10 (2 June 2006)

Central to the awfulness of this film is the brainlessly carnivorous vanity of Knightly's performance as Elizabeth. Note how few shots there are of her face closely relating to anyone else's. The faces are shot separately because she is evidently impossible to act with. Too bad that Elizabeth Bennett was supposed to be wise, sensitive to other people, and not self-absorbed. Her portrayal here lacks all of these aspects.
Watching the DVD extras for this film, it is apparent that Joe Wright is a sort of MTV kind of director, and this is why the film is really nothing more than a collection of overblown and syrupy tableaux. In addition, despite the manifest smugness of the screenwriter about what a good job she's done, every thing that she has added does little more than trivialize Austen's intentions, while what she has taken away leaves something that has no more depth than a bodice-ripper pulp novel.
The other actors are all at least competent though more often than not misdirected into caricatures.