Austenland

Who would vacation in the Bahamas when you could live the 1800 life of Pride and Predigest characters? Apparently this Jane Austen fan will spend all her money living the experience straight from Austen's most classic books. From Jerusha Hess, the co- writer of Napoleon Dynamite (or should I say the wife of the director), the film begins with Jane (Keri Russell), a Jane Austen book lover, watching classic romance movies and planning her week-long trip adventure somewhere in the United Kingdom to live the Jane Austen life with handsome gentlemen, romance, and engagements. The only problem is when your fantasies become reality, Jane finds love is not always the same way in the books. This movie seems to aim for the book lovers and those of us who are sick of women who dream of finding their Mr Darcy. The film moves fast and the audience does not get to know Russel's character, except for the fact that she loves Jane Austen books. Still, Hess does an excellent job creating a fun and adventurous comedy for us, not to mention the performance of Jennifer Coolidge is fantastic.

Jane Hayes (Keri Russell) has been most unfortunate in love. Her boyfriends up to this moment have left her cold to romance. Perhaps, it might be observed, Jane is rather selective in her search, for she is looking for the second coming of Mr. Darcy. A fan of Austen since she was thirteen, her small apartment is decorated in the Empire fashion, with a large cutout of Colin Firth in his role as Darcy. So, when a former flame comes to her place of work, telling her that he is her last, best hope, Jane hatches a desperate plan. She will sell her car and use all of her savings to buy a trip to Austenland, a dream adventure place in jolly old England. When she arrives, flush with excitement, she gets a small dash of grief. The snobby manager (Jane Seymour) chides Jane for buying the basic package, gives the American a plainer room than the other guests, and gives her the moniker Miss Erstwhile, which Jane instantly dislikes. Nevertheless, the place is lovely and the actors quite intriguing, especially one, Mr. Nobly (J.J. Field) who has the Darcy role. Alas, he brushes her off, true to the book. Thank goodness fellow guest Miss Charming (Jennifer Coolidge) becomes her bosom friend and provides great comic relief. Yet, when Jane receives criticism at dinner, she bolts out to the grounds where she meets someone who turns her head. This is Martin (Bret McKenzie), hired to take care of the horses and play a servant. Though there is really no mingling between guests and servants, Martin soon becomes Jane's special savior time and time again. Could he be the romance she has waited for all of her life? But, wait, could Mr. Nobly actually be paying more attention to our Jane? Things are becoming muddled! This lovely movie will be a joy to Austen's fans and beyond. How many superhero films have to be released, however, to merit a ladies' flick like this? Quite a few, Hollywood seems to be saying. Therefore, it is this viewer's hope that all women will rush to the closest theater to embrace Austenland in a big way. It has sumptuous costumes, a clever script, a wonderful setting, a skilled direction and enough references to the great lady herself to please most everyone.

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.

When this movie first came out, I thought it looked stupid so I wouldn't give it a chance. When I was watching the 1995 BBC version of Pride & Prejudice on DVD, this was one of the previews for the movie. I checked it out and I enjoyed this silly, romantic comedy. The entire cast was phenomenal and over the top. Keri Russell's Jane Hayes thought she was nuts being obsessed with Jade Austen Pride& Prejudice all her life and she was thrown into a world called Austenland where the characters were so nuts they made her look sane. After having a midlife crisis after her loser ex boyfriend tells her he's the best shot she has at marriage. She goes nuts and spend her lifesavings to go to Austenland where she's promise to have her own Austen inspired romance. In Austenland, the line between reality and fiction becomes very blurry. JJ Feild who plays Henry Nobley, the Darcy of the group, kills it with his facial expressions and his reactions to the ridiculousness of their situation. The great thing about this movie is that it's one of those movies that each time you watch it, you find something new. It's not a straight romantic comedy with one note. It flips the script on you and gives you many twists and turns so you never truly know how it plays out. It's a cool movie to watch, then rewatch and catch things you didn't catch the first time around. But I really enjoyed this movie. The entire cast was amazing. Jennifer Coolidge as Miss Elizabeth Charming, a rich legally dumb blonde who has a heart of gold and is Jane's comedic sidechick. Bret McKenzie as the likable charmer Martin. James Callis from another Austen inspired property the Bridget Jones series plays the flamboyant Colonel Andrews. Georgia King was hilarious as another rich blonde named Lady Amelia Heartwright. Ricky Whittle who plays the sexy Captain East and also a soap star who is so sexy, he'll take off his shirt, revealing his six pack, and use it as a handkerchief to watch a ladies' mouth. Jane Seymour plays Mrs. Wattlesbrook with ease. Ayda Field is in the movie for five minutes but she nails it. It was an enjoyable movie and every actor gets their moment to shine. If you are a serious Austen fan and hate any unpure version adaption of Austen's work, you'll going to hate this movie. But if you love her work and don't mind giving sillier adaptions a chance, then you'll like or dare I say love it. And probably secretly admit to yourself only, you wish Austenland really existed. Oh, and may sure you watch the ending credits. It's a nice treat!

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.