A crowd-pleaser

Rating: 4/10 (22 September 2005)

As a devotee of both the book and the BBC adaptation of P&P, I approached this film with a certain amount of trepidation but also kept an open mind, given the good reviews of it. Alas, I found it to be a real disappointment - while the story obviously needed to be condensed in order to fit it into two hours, I felt that it was so rushed that there was very little plot development, and we were allowed virtually no time to identify and sympathise with any of the characters. What really ruined the film for me however were firstly the lack of any subtlety in the story whatsoever; secondly, the modernisation of parts of the dialogue; thirdly, the whole film had something of a "Mills & Boon" feel to it, not Austen at all. I imagine that these aspects were intended to make the film appeal to a broader audience, and it has undoubtedly done the trick. The casting certainly could have been better as well, most were adequate at best but what on earth were they thinking in the cases of Darcy, Bingley and Wickham?! Appalling on all three counts! Fair dues however must be given to Tom Hollander who was brilliant as Mr Collins, and Keira Knightley who in spite of being too thin and conventionally beautiful for the role of Lizzy, did actually do a very good job and made the character her own. Not nearly enough to redeem the film in my eyes though.