Paging Mr. Darcy

Mallory Jansen plays Professor Eloise Cavendish a Jane Austen expert who has been asked to give the key note speech at the annual JALA (Jane Austen League of America) Conference and Ball. She is hoping to impress Victoria Jennings who is on the hiring committee at Princeton for a professorship Eloise has applied for. Unfortunately, Eloise does not get off to the best start by offending Victoria's nephew...her very own Mr. Darcy...aka her guest of honor liaison. And she really puts her foot in it when she says she doesn't like all of the pomp and circumstance...she is not a romantic. Doesn't like balls and dress-up or being the center of attention, that is until she finds out that Victoria does. Then she teams up with Victoria's Nephew Sam Lee to win Victoria over. In the process these two become very close.

I love Jane Austen...with Pride and Prejudice and Persuasion being my favorites, but I confess to having been a little skeptical as to whether I would enjoy this Hallmark Austen-centric film...but I enjoyed it and am looking forward to the other two upcoming for 2024's Lovuary-February.

"I'm a scholar, not some Fitzwilliam Darcy fan girl."-Eloise

I rather enjoyed the chemistry between Mallory Jansen and Will Kemp...but don't get me wrong, Will Kemp makes this Hallmark romantic film and carries off a Darcy costume with panache! This is a recommendation to both Jane Austen fans and romantics alike.

This movie is borderline for me. I think that is mostly because of Will Kemp and Mallory Jansen. They had decent chemistry and watching them together was about the only good thing in the movie. Lillian Doucet-Roche was only irritating as Mia.

The movie is filled with cliches like all the women going gaga at Sam. But also many of the usual formula tropes. Seriously? Eloise could suddenly cook just so the writer could put her and Sam together. Another common trope is one of the leads helping the other overcome her neurosis.

Acting was mixed with some of the supporting cast being questionable. There was some decent dialogue.

This is your usual Hallmark fare, with downgraded food intended as a humorous, but poorly conceived, plot point, inadequate and inconsistent costume work for an Austen conference, and little to no research as to the type of women or vendors that might actually be at such an event invested, prior to the writing phase of the script. Some Austen quotes and character references are peppered throughout, for good measure, but the characters are as one-note and predictable as those of any Hallmark show, and not worthy of a Jane Austen tribute. There were a few redeeming moments: the field trip to the exhibit of Austen correspondence and the preparation of somewhat accurate period piece deserts (which could/should have been brought in on silver platters to cooing of the attendees, but NO) by the leads, but there was no need to devolve all the way to off-brand-Subway deli meats for an elegant garden party just for humor - when trays like that could have easily been arranged at Whole Foods or any local gourmet market. It didn't add humor - it just emphasized the lack of class and substance in the film production itself.

I'm still planning to watch the other Jane Austen movies this month, and I really, genuinely hope they hired a real film writer for at least one of them - I'm a big Austen fan and it would be such a shame if all the films are this much of a missed opportunity. Alternately, if the budget doesn't allow for "Hollywood" writers, hire an Indie writer - someone up and coming, but out of work, just like they do with actors, and tell the writer the script does NOT need to fit the Hallmark tropes, formula and mold to a T. My advice to Hallmark, for any future female author tribute: show RESPECT, ala Aretha Franklin, and put a little more legwork into the script by also hiring outside costumers, outside hair stylists, caterers. Make a bit of an effort. They know how - some Hallmark productions are better than the formula; Hallmark: we can see how your films are all the same and we welcome a bit of creativity. Put in some effort instead of churning them out, particularly when it doth seem of great import to your guests.

Eloise Cavendish (Mallory Jansen) is a Jane Austen expert and a really big fan. Only she's not a romantic and doesn't see Austen as a romance novelist. She is doing a speech at a Jane Austen conference in order to please organizer Dr. Victoria Jennings (Carolyn Scott) to get a Princeton professorship. Sam Lee (Will Kemp) is playing Mr. Darcy for the conference and is Victoria's nephew. Mia Cavendish (Lillian Doucet-Roche) is Eloise's heart-broken little sister.

At first, I thought they might use the plane passenger to form a love triangle. At last, a triangle is too complicated as a shape for Hallmark. I do like the chemistry and the characters. It's not high drama and Mia is not changing that in the slightest. It's low intensity sweetness. It's perfectly fine for Hallmark.

Call me a grump on this review. If you look at most of my reviews, I'm very generous in my ratings. For many 5.5-star rated movies of this type, I have given 8 or 9 stars. I love Will Kemp, but this movie didn't do him justice. At the movie's beginning, the characters talk about learning ballroom dancing. I expected that the talented Mr. Kemp would show off his dancing skills. Not so! A few little hops and turns were the only dancing that occurred. The sister of Eloise Cavendish was highly annoying, over-the-top, selfish, and immature. As for romance, I just wasn't feeling it. The movie ended so abruptly that I thought a commercial was coming up, and there would be more to the story. Truthfully, I wanted to love this movie, but I wouldn't watch it again. Just a note: Benjamin Ayers was also in the movie but appeared on a golf cart for five seconds and drove away.