Saturday, February 16, 2008

And then the Fat Lady Sang


Sometimes I wish I had slept more in my history and literature classes. If I had maybe I would be one of those people who was shocked when the at the end of The Titanic the ship sank. Or that the perky Kirsten Dunst gets beheaded in Marie Antionnette. I tell myself when I watch something like Zodiac, knowing the story, this fictionalized flim somehow will bring new insights into my perspective of the case. So flush from my orgiastic Jane Austen fest on PBS, I checked out Becoming Jane from the library. I had the added bonus of being the first person to check this DVD out, no skips or scratches for me baby. I prepped myself with snacks, a drink and all my knitting accessories with in reach, needles in hand I hit play.
Expecting entertainment and intellligent dialogue, I was sorely disappointed. To begin with Anne Hathway mumbled through her lines and the erstwhile Mr. Darcy (Mr. Lefroy), lacked charm enough to woo even a spaniel onto his lap. But I will not blame the acting for the annoyance level of this film. I will blame my own knowledge of Jane Austin. Being a literature nerd I knew how this was going to turn out, and this is not a spoiler folks it is fact, poor Jane ends up a spinster. The film became me waiting for Jane to realize she ends up a spinster.
The defining moment of the film becomes after the spinster Jane has listened to an opera singer she meets her old beau and his daughter named (cressendo music here) JANE. She is happy that his child with another woman is named after her. I wanted to fling the remote at the TV. The only upside here was that I got several rows of knitting done while watch this crap.

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