EMMA
A film review by Magus
Copyright 1996 Magus
Starring Gwyneth Paltrow, Jeremy Northam, Toni Collette.
Directed by : Douglas McGrath.
Produced by : Patrick Cassavetti, and Steve Haft.
Based On The Jane Austen Novel By : Douglas McGrath.
MPAA : PG
My Recommended Ages : 10 and up (Don't worry, your kids won't want to go see this one.)
As I watched Alicia Silverstone walking around Beverly Hills acting flirtatious and coy in the movie CLUELESS, I was stunned that about 4 months later I had learned that CLUELESS had been based on a novel by Jane Austen called EMMA. I later read EMMA to see if they had any relation whatsoever. My final conclusion : Yes. EMMA(Miramax, PG) is basically FRIENDS is corsets. The movie CLUELESS was just way out and trendy, where the movie EMMA is surprisingly touching and romanceful.
As in most Jane Austen novels, women, specifically sisters, are the main characters, and their soon to be husbands are the targets. Usually there is one nice guy turned bad guy, and one bad guy turned nice guy i.e. Hugh Grant and Greg Wise. The reason EMMA works is that, unlike its 1800-esque predeccessors, SENSE AND SENSIBILY and PERSUASION, is that it doesn't mind being sexy and sensual. The writer-director Douglas McGrath, famous for helping Woody Allen riff off in BULLETS OVER BROADWAY, has gone into unexplored waters here, and unexplored waters oft mean unexpected things, such as holes in the coral reefs. The characters, and for that matter, the plot in EMMA can go too far joyous, and then the next moment down in the ditches. But still, with wonderful writing from McGrath, whose script doubles Emma Thompson's SENSE AND..., pulls this movie away a winner.
SENSE AND SENSIBILITY, one of the Austen adaptations, and by far the most successful at the awards of golden naked men. It's first time writer, Thompson, had acted before in such horrifically sentimental movies as HOWARD'S END, and REMAINS OF THE DAY. She here puts all she has into a very well done screenplay. The directing however, done by Ang Lee, is pushed off and not well done. He never creates any sort of contact between Hugh Grant and Emma Thompson ; they seem so much alike that it's a marvel Lee couldn't put anything between them. The best performances come from the couple of Kate Winslet and Alan Rickman, although there is not romance there, either.
Sense and ... : B- Emma : B+
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