Sense & Sensibility

A big ugh.

Period pieces or contemporary versions based on classic novels etc - are great when they are done well and are respectful to the original material and time period and if changed and "updated" provide plausible context for the changes.

The 1995 Pride and Prejudice, Doctor Thorne, Downton Abby are examples of terrific period pieces.

On the opposite end, the Keira Knightley Pride and Prejudice, Anya Taylor-Joe's Emma, CW's Reign among many others were just horrid...

This Hallmark version of Sense & Sensibility was sad and bad on all levels. Felt like a high school student trying to make an "updated" film.

The anachronistic concept did not make sense to begin with.

Why not use the story line and do something in a believable circumstance and setting?

If wedded to a "period piece" then how about changing the setting to, for example, early 1900s USA?

Or do a modern version like Clueless (Emma)?

The actors seemed miserable..

And completely weird to have Dan Jeannotte as the hero here.

If the point of the production was to recast, then Edward should have been played by a Black actor - so many talented Black British actors like Alfred Enoch or Ashley Walter or Gary Carr to name a few.

I'm sure theses are lovely and talented actors but the performances here just do not convey any emotion or feeling. This adaption was very choppy and rushed not allowing the time in scenes when needed in order to express the necessary emotions. I have enjoyed the other JA movies on Hallmark this month but sadly this one misses the mark. I have seen several of the performers in different vehicles and portrayals were great so perhaps the failure here is the script or direction. Watch this for yourself if you want to decide for yourself or perhaps take my advice and watch one of the other excellent adaptations.

I adore Jane Austen and I found this to be my least favorite of the four Austen inspired Hallmark 2024 Love-uary offerings. I went in with an open mind and while I appreciated a more true to the story telling of Sense and Sensibility, I feel like they didn't have the time to do it justice. I continually found myself thinking of the 1995 Ang Lee version and comparing actors. The other thoughts I had were around the casting choices made by Hallmark's Mahogany and how in the time of Bridgerton this seemed really unnecessary and at times inappropriate.

When the casting takes you away from the story, I think you have let your audience down. Especially if the goal is to introduce a wonderful story to a new audience.

The Jane Austen story that this attempts to tell is that of the Dashwood sisters (two in particular) who are displaced from their family estate when their father passes away leaving their half brother to inherit everything. Left destitute thanks to their brother not fulfilling his promise of seeing to his step-mother and three step-sisters, in part thanks to his greedy social climbing wife who has his ear, the Dashwood women end up in a modest dwelling on a distant cousin's property.

Elinore , the eldest Dashwood sister, falls hard for her sister-in-law's half brother, who is believed to be quite above her station in her current position. While Marianne, the younger and more romantic sister, is dreaming of the dashing and Devil may care Willoughby, all while a certain Colonel Brandon is watching from the sideline.

It is a lovely story that I encourage you to pick up and read...I am just not sure I can endorse this film, through no real fault of the actors. And while I appreciate the attempt to breathe new life into a classic story, I think this falls short of doing said story justice. Not a recommendation to my fellow romantics.

If you like romance, you like Jane Austen, you like the original story of sense and sensibility, you'll like this but I agree with another review here the costumes are awful, the crushed velvet and the weird floral and purple and black terrible terrible terrible and not accurate. The acting was OK. If you really want to make it a POC adaptation, then make everyone a person of color and call it a day. Nobody really cares, but you seem to want it to be like the new Bridgerton. Of course the homes were beautiful the scenery was beautiful. The cottage was much much nicer than the Ang Lee adaptation-that cottage was pretty sparse in comparison to where the Dashwoods had come from. I do hope coming soon they have a marathon of all these movies on a Saturday or Sunday. It was enjoyable to be in Jane Austen.

6.2 stars.

The thought came to me about 10 minutes into the movie that if I want to watch Austen's 'Sense and Sensibility', I will simply revert back to the one and only that I've seen. This being about 29 years ago, and I was profoundly moved by that version. We all know I'm referring to the one with Thompson and Winslet. I don't particularly have any desire to ponder whether or not there's any other version to consider. The 1995 version was such perfection for me, it will be difficult justifying the allocation of my precious time to watching this one. I think Hallmark is being pretentious by creating another film based solely on the unadulterated novel itself. They should have added some twists and tweaks like they recently did with the pride and prejudice film. Trying to make an authentic remake of the original movie was a risky endeavor that did not pay off. I let the meter run for a good 30 to 40 minutes and realized this falls way flat. So I move onward to the next Hallmark film in my library. Cheerio.