Pride and Prejudice

[franticjoy]

flamethrower said:

I actually laughed when KK was doing the crying scene, left the room, and then tried to come back to deliever the bad news about her sister. That scene was so badly acted on her part.

I laughed during that scene too. She comes into the room, makes a squealing-pig type of noise, and exits immediately, leaving everybody completely nonplussed.

My friend and I made an entirely separate bowl of popcorn to throw at the screen while watching this. There were things I preferred over the 1995 version- the more realistic Bennet house, for one thing- but as for the rest...

I can't even say I preferred Dame Judi as Lady Catherine. Of course she wasn't bad- she couldn't be- but Barbara Leigh-Hunt's performance was such that I can't imagine anybody else in the role.

Nobody's portrayal was as bad as Keira's, but Jenna Malone's Lydia I thought was really horrible acting. Among the atrocities, I really hated that the Bennets were portrayed as being in love with each other, and that Mrs. Bennet was shown having even the slightest bit of common sense. The woman was a blithering idiot- Jane Austen made no bones about it. There are whole paragraphs dedicated to her silliness and Mr. Bennet's mockery of her, which is part of the reason Elizabeth is as determined as she is to really love the person she marries- she doesn't want to end up like her parents.

Finally, I know this has been mentioned many times, but- Lizzy portrayed as Independent McSassypants makes me ill. If Joe Wright wanted to direct a movie about a plain, skinny tomboy who whistles, puts her feet up on furniture, wanders around barefoot, never brushes her hair, and is "spunky", he should have remade Little Women. Again. Keira Knightley would have made a much better Jo March than Winona Ryder anyway, particularly with those clothes. If they had to set it back ten years, why couldn't they have found something to cover Keira's collarbones? Were they punishing Keira for being too pretty by forcing her to wear burlap?

[jazz]

I can't for the life of me figure out how Keira got a nomination for this movie. She was okay but certainly not an Oscarworthy performance. The movie was okay but it just seemed like a movie of the week to me.

[Shanmac]

I just watched it, and this would once have been blasphemy to me, but ... I liked it better than the miniseries. I am a Colin Firth superfan, if there is such a thing, but I thought MM's performance was much, much more compelling. The way he looked at Elizabeth! *Swoon* Just excellent. He really conveyed Darcy's vulnerability, and I found him much more likeable; and I thought he and KK had really palpable chemistry.

As for KK, I agree -- there were times when her delivery was exactly, spot-on the same as Jennifer Ehle's. I thought she was passable, but it was a bit startling at times.

[Margo]

I think the miniseries is theoretically better, but this movie felt right for reasons that didn't have much to do with acting. First of all, Keira was the right age for the character, much more so than Jennifer Ehle. And Matthew MacFadyen was also closer to Darcy in age, and hotter than Colin Firth (to me personally - CF does absolutely nothing for me, even in the wet shirt scene).

I still like the miniseries better, but it feels like a slightly different book with older, more mature characters.

[Yossarian]

I like the miniseries better for purely shallow reasons. Firstly, Keira Knightley is incredibly over-rated, IMO. Secondly, I like my Austen to be pretty. Sure, the Bennetts may have been sliding into genteel poverty but that's still no reason to have animals in the house as in the movie. I like my poverty to be pretty, goddamnit!

[Deleted]

I really like both versions for different reasons - but the worst thing about this movie is how much the actors' perfectly straight, blindingly white teeth pulled me out of the story.

[Shanmac]

Heh -- the animals running through the house cracked me up.

I love them both, and I will always adore the miniseries, which is where my love of The Firth began. But damn if I didn't find MM's Darcy ten times hotter. Whew.

[Mlle]

I finally got a copy of the miniseries from the library (waited months for it) and am watching it this week....

I am awestruck by how much Keira Knightly ripped off from Jennifer Ehle's rendition of Lizzie (to the point that my dude and I looked at each other, gasped, and replayed certain scenes and analyzed ithem... it was THAT obvious)

I am surprised that she was lauded for the role considering.........

ETA: oops I just read ONE page back and realized I am totally not alone in this, however it can be reiterated...

[thesurlymermaid]

I will never, never watch the awful Kiera Knightley version again. I am wholly biased to the miniseries and Colin Firth IS Darcy. That is all.

[BarbR]

And poor Colin, here it is almost 12 years (and how many movies, tv shows, etc.) later, and he still gets billed as "Mr. Darcy" in his local paper last week after doing a charity event for asylum seekers. He must be getting pretty tired of it by now.