Unpardonable

Rating: 1/10 (26 May 2008)

I could forgive an awful lot. I could forgive cutting characters and reassigning dialog and so forth, given the enormously difficult prospect of cutting down such a large novel to fit into movie length. I could forgive inclinations to modernize, or take liberties with historicity. I could forgive a deliberate attempt to stake out a different take on a well-worn classic. Mind you, I wouldn't forgive easily, but I could forgive.
But the one thing I can NOT forgive: stripping this work of its humor! The sparkling wit and hilarious characters which make up Austen's original (and which shine through so splendidly in the '95 mini-series version) are undeniably what I love most about P&P, and to deprive me of them deprives me of all interest in the project. Whereas in the original, Mrs. Bennett, Mr. Bennett, and Mr. Collins are all *hilarious* in their separate ways, here they are most decidedly *not*. The problem is clearly in the script and direction, not the actors. Both Mrs. Bennett and Mr. Collins seem game and able, but the script/direction lets them down: Mrs. Bennett has clearly been *deliberately* sabotaged to make her more sympathetic, and Mr. Collins simply doesn't get enough screen time to wax on and on about Rosings and Lady Catherine (I mean, seriously, how are we to understand this great woman's outstanding character if we are deprived of knowing how she herself personally specified the shelves in the upstairs closets! :) ) But the worst offense is Mr. Bennett. I simply cannot believe Sutherland to be that inept, it had to be the director's idea to turn the witty, bemused Bennett into a henpecked nincompoop. Geez, at times he actually seems to be genuinely interested in and enthusiastic about his wife's ridiculous plotting! He was just AWFUL.
Truthfully, this production probably deserved more than the one star I gave it (maybe three), but when I saw reviews gushing over this mess, I simply HAD to throw some more weight on the negative side.
Just watch the BBC/A&E mini-series version, or read the book; they are both fantastic.