Who's in It: Anne Hathaway, James McAvoy, Julie Walters, James Cromwell, Maggie Smith
The Basics: This is a sweet little fictional story about Jane Austen. And by fictional I mean totally fictional. The guy she has a grand and tragic romance with? She met him once in real life. And that's it. But then if you made a movie about her real life, it would be all about her not having enough money and not having her writing really appreciated in her lifetime and then getting a mysterious disease and dying a spinster at the age of 41. This way, we can pretend there was some juice.
What's the Deal? I actually kind of like this whole "fantasy biopic" genre that's suddenly sprung up. Autofocus posited some facts-adjacent stuff about Bob Crane's sexed-up off-camera life; Fur decided that Diane Arbus was obsessed with her neighbor, who happened to be something of a werewolf; the upcoming John Malkovich movie about Gustav Klimt called Klimt acts like the man's existence was one giant LSD freak-out. And that's why if someone wants to paint Jane Austen as a red-lipped and bosomy ingénue who has men tripping over themselves to be her husband and who basically acts like someone in Pride and Prejudice, then who am I to say it shouldn't have totally happened just like that.
Ladies, Ladies, Ladies: At the opening day matinee, the theater was packed with large groups of women. I was one of four men in the entire place. And I redirected it in my mind while I watched it. All you'd have to do is substitute an exploding helicopter for any moment people kiss in the secluded forest or get swept off their feet or sass somebody named Lord Fluff-'n'-Fold or do a "country dance" at a ball — and you'd have a Die Hard.
Why It's Not Always a Great Idea to Cast Maggie Smith: Because she enters a scene and slices everyone to ribbons with three syllables. When you're writing a page of dialogue, and you think, I can see Maggie Smith delivering this withering riposte! and you let everyone around her be sort of warm and fuzzy, the whole thing threatens to consume itself in a raging Maggie Smith inferno. You know?
For Fans of: Wigs, corsets, empire-waist dresses, pointy sideburns, naughty skinny-dipping, carriages stuck in mud, American actors doing reasonably successful British accents and PG tips.