Awful

Rating: 4/10 (14 August 2006)

My God, this is bad.
Matthew MacFadyen manages to be both drippy and wooden and, no mean feat this, makes Colin Firth look like Brando. Not the Darcy that strides from the pages of the novel, more a Darcy that limps from the pages of a particularly flaccid Mills and Boon. Long lingering looks into the camera as mists roll over England's green and pleasant land remind one of a particularly awful advert for Clover butter that is currently polluting the small screen.
As for Keira ... Christ. A (very) pretty face she undoubtedly has, but her talent seems to extend little further than that. Those of you that have read the book will recognise in her portrayal nothing of the less attractive pride or prejudice inherent in Lizzie's character, nor the more attractive steel and sensibility. Elizabeth Bennett as a giggling and frankly tedious little girl is a reappraisal that I for one could happily have done without.
It gets 3/10 for the cinematography, Judy Dench and, to a less extent, Donald Sutherland. Other than that, quite awful.