Pride and Prejudice, Cut

I love the Jane Austen's Pride and Prejudice, so in general I enjoy it's film retellings and this was no exception. It wasn't my favorite retelling, but I appreciated the modern story telling within the story. It was very family friendly with the "American" actress who was cast as Elizabeth Bennet being a very popular vlogger, who really sells hard work and a positive attitude as she shares her process and struggles to do her first film as an actress.

This had a little w budget feel and I think of as comparable to a Hallmark romantic film. When taken in that context, this is a recommendation to romantics out there, especially fans of Austen's original material.

Haven't seen such a bad film in a long time. No chemistry, bad acting, depressing atmosphere, and totaly unrealistic and naive.

It was quickly apparent that the story told in the film was a thinly-veiled parody of Pride and Prejudice itself, and not very well done at that. Philippa saying "I'm hearing something alarming" in particular was a very bad parody of Catherine de Bourgh.

Apart from all the other negative points, the whole basis of the film was flawed. People were shocked at the idea of an American woman playing Lizzie Bennett, supposedly a quintessentially English role. Does nobody remember Jennifer Ehle (American, though born to a British mother) playing Lizzie Bennett in the 1995 BBC version of Pride and Prejudice?

The premise of this film is clever: as a new version of Pride and Prejudice is filmed we see that the actors playing the roles are engaged in their own version of Austin's book. Unfortunately, the limited budget handicaps this production. The actors are good but the weak script pulls them down a bit. I liked the strong positive nature of the female lead. She's strong but kind and you can almost believe she'd have 8 million followers on her vlog. The actor playing Liam who plays Darcy definitely looks the part. But it's all just a bit too tepid. Stronger writing would have compensated for the lack of budget.

I thought it was a fun twist to the classic Pride and Prejudice tale. I enjoyed it and always surprised how many haters there are out there.