{"id":5400,"date":"2013-08-23T06:04:57","date_gmt":"2013-08-23T13:04:57","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.cinemastance.com\/?p=5400"},"modified":"2013-08-23T06:04:57","modified_gmt":"2013-08-23T13:04:57","slug":"austenland-silly-and-frothy-rom-com","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/cinemastance.com\/?p=5400","title":{"rendered":"AUSTENLAND Silly and Frothy Rom-Com"},"content":{"rendered":"

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\nOver the years, there have been several retellings of \u201cPride and Prejudice\u201d. And thanks to a significant other who enjoys filmic adaptations of Jane Austen, I\u2019ve seen many more than I would have otherwise sought out. The latest, \u201cAustenland,\u201d attempts to add a wrinkle or two to the tale by modernizing it and placing it into a new context. Ultimately, it\u2019s the charming cast the makes the most of this well worn material and the result is enjoyable date night fare.<\/p>\n

The storyline follows Jane (Keri Russell), a single woman in her 30\u2019s obsessed with Austen\u2019s famous novel\u2026 and actor Colin Firth\u2019s interpretation of Mr. Darcy from the famed BBC miniseries. Lonely and longing for the same type of \u201ctrue\u201d romance, she uses her savings on a vacation at Austenland. Run by Mrs. Wattlesbrook (Jane Seymour), it\u2019s a British Regency-era resort (using the term loosely) which treats attendees to an experience akin to living in the novel. This involves a lot needlepoint and more importantly, interactions with actors portraying characters based on the book. <\/p>\n

Once there, she\u2019s surrounded by fellow tourists (played by Jennifer Coolidge and Georgia King) and finding the experience more surreal than expected. Entanglements arise when she finds herself first pursued by Martin (Bret McKenzie) and then the stuffy Mr. Nobley (JJ Field). But is the romance real, or is it all a part of the vacation package?<\/p>\n

Director Jerusha Hess (co-writer of \u201cNapoleon Dynamite,\u201d \u201cNacho Libre\u201d and \u201cGentlemen Broncos\u201d) has shown in the past that she finds oddball behavior entertaining. It\u2019s definitely an acquired taste; while this particular film is a little more subdued than her other efforts, much of the humor is still derived from the bizarre actions of the characters. To this reviewer, their affectations frequently came across as amusing. Coolidge makes the most of her role as a wealthy American tourist, attempting to act like British nobility by adopting an awkward and unsuitable Cockney accent and then trying to sound like a pirate. <\/p>\n

The male resort actors also break character frequently as they are pursued by guests, sharing confused and embarrassed looks while trying to stay in character. McKenzie stands out as an actor who may or may not be enthused about his job, and takes to doing yard work in full costume while wearing earphones and crooning 80\u2019s era Roxette and Billy Ocean ballads.
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\nApart from the film\u2019s modernist take on the novel\u2019s satire of etiquette, the rest is predictable. The story could have gone even further in messing with the minds of the audience as to which relationships are honest and which ones are invented for the guests. Additionally, two of the leads possess such a great onscreen rapport that when the familiar story twist is revealed, it\u2019s actually a bit of a disappointment. <\/p>\n

However, it\u2019s great to watch the talented cast members goof around with a literary classic on camera. Austenland certainly isn\u2019t a timeless masterpiece, but it is a sweet, silly and frothy romantic comedy that works in own eccentric way.
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Over the years, there have been several retellings of \u201cPride and Prejudice\u201d. And thanks to a significant other who enjoys filmic adaptations of Jane Austen, I\u2019ve seen many more than I would have otherwise sought out. The latest, \u201cAustenland,\u201d attempts to add a wrinkle or two to the tale by modernizing it and placing it […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":6,"featured_media":5401,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[2051,10310,10628,11603],"class_list":["post-5400","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-movie-reviews","tag-austenland","tag-jane-seymour","tag-jerusha-hess","tag-keri-russell"],"blocksy_meta":{"styles_descriptor":{"styles":{"desktop":"","tablet":"","mobile":""},"google_fonts":[],"version":8}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/cinemastance.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5400","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/cinemastance.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/cinemastance.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cinemastance.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/6"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cinemastance.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=5400"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/cinemastance.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5400\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/cinemastance.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=5400"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cinemastance.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=5400"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cinemastance.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=5400"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}