Your reaction to this vaguely plausible biopic starring Anne Hathaway as Jane Austen may well depend on whether you've been overjoyed or heartily sickened by the run of adaptations of the Pride and Prejudice author's works that have come fast and furious over the last 10 or so years. We learn that Our Jane (the real Austen was an unprepossessing woman who died a spinster, while Hathaway is startlingly attractive even when she's trying to look plain) was once attracted to a rude young man—an arrogant Irish law student named Tom Lefroy (James McAvoy), who is not unlike her immortal Darcy—and that her less-than-wealthy parents (Julie Walters and James Cromwell, straight out of Central Casting) tried marrying her off to the affluent village dullard. In fact, for more than half its running time, filmmaker Julian Jarrold's Becoming Jane seems tailor-made for…well…a Jane Austen novel. But screenwriters Kevin Hood and Sarah Williams throw viewers a few curveballs, and Hathaway takes considerable pains to avoid looking like the standard dewy-eyed ingénue of many period romances. The film succeeds most admirably when depicting how Austen writes: stealing a line or two from real conversation, exaggerating a banal situation, borrowing character traits from friends, relatives, and acquaintances, and so on. Unfortunately, Becoming Jane is otherwise fairly tepid. Optional. [Note: DVD extras include an audio commentary (by director Julian Jarrold, writer Kevin Hood, and producer Robert Bernstein), 13 deleted scenes (20 min.), “Discovering the Real Jane Austen” (17 min.), an option to watch the film with pop-up facts and footnotes, and trailers. Bottom line: a decent extras package for a so-so biopic.] (E. Hulse)[Blu-ray Review—Dec. 20, 2011—Miramax, 120 min., PG, $19.99—Making its first appearance on Blu-ray, 2007's Becoming Jane features a great transfer and a 5.1 uncompressed soundtrack. Blu-ray extras are identical to the DVD release, including audio commentary by director Julian Jarrold, writer Kevin Hood, and producer Robert Bernstein, deleted scenes (20 min.), “Discovering the Real Jane Austen” on the author (17 min.), a pop-up trivia viewing option, and trailers. Bottom line: a fine Blu-ray debut for an uneven bio-pic.]
Becoming Jane
Miramax, 120 min., PG, DVD: $29.99, Feb. 12 Volume 23, Issue 1
Becoming Jane
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