Coup de foudre à Austenland

Nothing high art or dramatic to be seen here .... which is a good thing!

This flick is a simple romantic comedy set in a Jane Austen theme park with paid actors to play roles from Austen novels. Our main character, Jane Hayes, blows her bank account to fulfill her love of Jane Austen's Pride & Prejudice novel by staying at the theme park hoping to find her love. That's the story all wrapped with some funny light hearted characters and situations.

But pay attention! You just might be fooled! The ending opens a new light for her and the viewer. I enjoyed the movie greatly because it's simple and fun!

Disclosure: I really like "Pride & Prejudice" & usually end up enjoying romantic comedies a ton, despite never wanting to see them ahead of time.

That said, I went in to this one thinking it sounded good and was laughing hard throughout. The story is clever, the acting solid, casting is great and I walked out a huge fan of Jennifer Coolige. omg seriously, can you get any funnier? Worth seeing the movie for her alone. Without her it was still really good. Go see this movie. We even went back and saw it again - I wasn't laughing as much the second time, but appreciated it and enjoyed it again still.

I am not sure why this film has received such low reviews. The film opens up with Mrs. Wattlesbrook (Jane Seymour) holding a fake lamb and talking about Austenland, which I think greatly sets the tone for what type of movie this is going to be. Going into the film, I knew it had received a low score thus lowering my expectations greatly so I wasn't expecting much. It turns out I didn't need to lower my expectations, this film totally went over and above.

The critics and everyone leaving a low score have no sense of humor! It's over the top, exaggerated, hilarious, ridiculous, it's supposed to be that way! None of it is believable and once you allow yourself to enter the world of Austenland, you'll enjoy the film.

The theater possibly has a lot to do with the tone. We had a great audience, everyone was cracking up, loud uproars in all the scenes, it was hilarious. Miss Elizabeth Charming is hysterical! I really enjoyed Jennifer Coolidge's performance, she really did her usual thing and it was wonderful.

Lady Amelia Heartwright, Colonel Andrews, Captain George East all are so ridiculous and entertaining. The actors all did an amazing job. I honestly have not laughed that hard in a film in a long time. I'm talking laugh out loud, bursting, crying, snort kind of laughing. Even my husband enjoyed himself and found many of the scenes very entertaining.

I know I haven't talked much about the actual movie but bottom line: it's HILARIOUS. Go in with an open mind, allow yourself to be silly, let go of how "unrealistic" it is, and you'll be in for a treat.

Austenland is a 2013 comedy romance film. Jane, obsessed with Pride and Prejudice, can't seem to find her perfect gentlemen. Mr. Darcy just makes every man who comes into her life seem trivial and boring. Running out of hope, Jane travels to a Jane Austen themed amusement park, hoping to find her perfect gentleman.

I cannot say why I enjoyed this so much. There was just something about it that was just so over the top and hilarious, that I couldn't help but laugh and find it funny. The acting was well done, but still over the top, but I'm definitely looking at Keri Russell as an actress to look more at in the future. I was very surprised by her acting skills, even though over the top, she did it well and brought utter life to the character of Jane, and it was absolutely brilliant.

I didn't think too much of the rest of the film past Russell's performance. The humour and romance wasn't quite my type or to my enjoyment, but as I said, because it was so over the top, I couldn't help but laugh.

However, it's rare that a film does over the top well, and I think Austenland is a perfect example of what can happen when a director gets that right. The actors all worked together, and everything just became perfect for this film in particular. I don't think another rom-com could have pulled it off as well as Austenland did.

This is a really good feel good film and I would recommend it to those who love a good rom-com. Although not my style, I could definitely see myself watching this again during a break up or a similar toned part of my life.

I loved this film from the very start. It has an amazing sarcastic tone and is chalk full of Austen references. The over-dramatic nature of the setting and dialogue makes for a satirical manner which is very similar to Austen's original novels. The characters are all well developed and presented in a relatable way which makes it even more interesting. Miss Charming, for example, is absolutely ridiculous in her performance and each line just adds to her character. Jane Hayes, played by Keri Russell, is a really great lead in this film and gives an honest performance which helps the viewer sympathize with her. This film is based on a novel and there are several discrepancies between the novel and film, but if you love the book as much as I do, you will adore the film for it's own quirky style. For fun- look for the hidden peacock. He's hidden in a ton of scenes just off to the side.