Susan Hated Literature

Dir: Julian Jarrold
Writ: Kevin Hood & Sarah Williams

• Anne Hathaway - Jane Austen
• James McAvoy - Tom Lefroy
• Julie Walters - Mrs. Austen
• James Cromwell - Rev Austen
• Maggie Smith - Lady Gresham
• Joe Anderson - Henry Austen
• Laurence Fox - Mr. Wisley
• Ian Richardson - Judge Langlois

There really isn’t all that much to this film, which is loosely based on the life of Jane Austen, it is watchable but not memorable. The film amps up the real-life flirtation between Austen and Tom Lefroy to turn it into a full blown romance, with elopement and other such excitements thrown in. There may be some who are annoyed by the historical inaccuracies, I didn’t really care. However, knowing it was based on Jane Austen’s life means that there really was no point in the whole “will they won’t they” drama. You can’t keep an audience guessing when they know the ending.

Apart from that I found the first half of this film quite slow. Hathaway didn’t have the personality or screen presence to engage, and McAvoy was far too believable as the rogue to ever repent. And then there is the fact that Lefroy is Irish, and so obviously one of the “evil English invaders” oppressing Ireland, so he was never going to be in my good books Watching a romance between two characters that you don’t really like, and when you know the ending, isn’t really all that great. I did enjoy Fox’s Mr Wisley though, Jane should’ve chosen him from the beginning. Would have made far more sense.

I also had a bit of a problem with the whole love story. Once Lefroy tells Jane that Show Spoilers ▼

The second half was an improvement, but it didn’t blend properly with the beginning. The whole film felt unbalanced, as though they weren’t sure whether this was to be a light-hearted romance or a sad tale of unrequited love. But on the plus side the costumes were pretty, and every thing looked nice.

IMDb | Wikipedia on Lefroy | Austen-tatious | Monomania Diaries

Related posts

• Persuasion (15)
• W. (2)
• Underworld: Evolution (5)
• Troy (0)
• The Queen (2)

Dir: David Frankel
Writ: Aline Brosh McKenna, based on the book by Lauren Weisberger

• Meryl Streep - Miranda Priestly
• Anne Hathaway - Andy Sachs
• Emily Blunt - Emily
• Stanley TucciNigel

I’d heard some fairly decent things about this film, and the trailer made it seem like good fun, but all in all I wasn’t impressed. Very average is perhaps the best description. Predictable and with a lot less snark than I would have wished for.

The main character, Andy Sachs, has such a predictable arc that it really isn’t an arc at all. And all the trailers pointing to Meryl Streep’s character as some huge bitch? Well she wouldn’t have been nice to work for, I’ll give you that, and I wouldn’t have stayed in the position, but nevertheless she wasn’t even half as evil as she could have been. I did like her use of the name Emily as a term for her assistant, introducing Andy as her “new Emily� but apart from that I really don’t see what all the raving was about.

Speaking of Emily though, I did enjoy Emily Blunt’s character, the original Emily. Although, now that I think about it, maybe she was never called Emily until she came to work at Runway magazine. But somehow I doubt that.

I’ve said all this but haven’t, as yet, mentioned a plot, so I suppose I had better address that. Okay, Andy wants to be a journalist. A proper investigative Lois Lane, but she can’t get a job, so as a last ditch effort she takes a on a PA job at a fashion magazine, because after this she’ll be able to land any role. But her naïve ways get her into trouble, and before long she is looking for ways to fit in at Runway. And these ways of fitting in? Well, losing weight from a “fat� size 6, and of course better clothes. And working all hours.

Some improvement.

But in the end, she learns that her old self is really better, and if she loves the world of journalism so much maybe she’d be better suited as a journalist.

So the whole thing is really a pointless journey round in a big circle of crap. That may be a little harsh, because while I watched it I was entertained by The Devil Wears Prada. But in the end it is very forgetable, and not worth a view.

IMDb | Eamonn Fitzgerald’s Rainy Day | Beaut.ie | wongaBlog | Judgement Day

Related posts

• The thistle and the rose (0)
• The Sentinel (0)
• The Producers (0)
• The Golden Compass (4)
• Nacho Libre (4)