Movie Review of Pride and Prejudice; A latter day comedy

To review the DVD of a minor movie release of a Pride and Prejudice adaptation like this may seem a little unnecessary, but we thought it might be useful since it shares its exact title with Jane Austen’s novel. It might therefore be the kind of DVD to promote an impulse purchase from Pride and Prejudice fans, who could perhaps use a little prior intelligence about the film. Here, then, is our review of Pride and Prejudice; A Latter Day Comedy (2003).

In explanations of infinity, it’s often said that 100 monkeys randomly clacking away on typewriters would eventually produce the works of Shakespeare. I somehow doubt, however, that they’d need infinity to produce the script for Pride and Prejudice; A Latter Day Comedy. This movie lifts 100% of the title, 60% of the storyline and about 4% of the charm from Jane Austen’s novel. It also strips down its themes to cover in detail only the dangers of making hasty first impressions. The film starts slowly but does pick up and there are some funny moments, yet it contains nothing to elevate it above the DVD bargain bins in which it currently resides.

Set in modern-day Utah (hence the “Latter Day” tagline), this movie follows Elizabeth Bennet, a hardworking student and aspiring novelist. Her romance with Fitzwilliam Darcy, a British publishing executive, provides the backbone to the story, and there is a large role for the dastardly Jack Wickham. Jane is Elizabeth’s best friend and Bingley (a kind of young Chris o’ Donnell in a plastic wig, worn backwards) is an entrepreneur specializing in music for dogs. There is no Mr. or Mrs. Bennet and no Lady Catherine, and some other characters have been amalgamated. Collins does make an appearance and does have most of the best comic moments.

Darcy, played well by Orlando Seale, affronts Elizabeth while the latter is working in a bookstore. Their relationship further sours when he criticizes a book she had submitted to his publishing firm. She begins to warm to Darcy when Elizabeth essentially breaks into his log cabin to escape from a storm. Darcy invites her in to dry off and here she meets Darcy’s younger sister. This could have been a nice scene, but Georgiana’s habit of stringing random vowels together in a kind of low-pitch whale-speak makes it frequently impossible to understand her. (I appreciate that this sounds rather singular, but you’ll have to watch it to understand what I mean.)

In general, the lead actors aren’t bad but they occasionally look embarrassed by the material. Perhaps it’s the effect of standing in neon and pastel sets that look like they’ve been recycled from Clueless. For the men, perhaps their embarrassment stems from the fact that they look like they’re attending a “First Season of Friends” – themed fancy dress party. It might look delightful to pre-teens, who are probably this movie’s target audience, and also perhaps to moths, but for most adult humans – including it seems the actors in this movie – it’s all a little too much.

Passages from the book are intermittently flashed on the screen, deprived of their context and purpose, and the relevance of some quotations rather tenuous. Since most of the enjoyable parts of the movie (e.g. Collins’ angry speech in church) are original additions it might have made more sense to just “borrow” a few plot details, change the title and give up on this being an adaptation. Nevertheless, it might encourage a few younger viewers to pick up Jane Austen’s novel, which can only be a good thing.

To conclude this review, Pride and Prejudice; A Latter Day Comedy isn’t really Pride and Prejudice, isn’t much of a comedy and, given its mid-90s styling doesn’t appear particularly “latter day” either. It veers from being good, to being so bad it’s good, to being so bad that it’s actually bad again. If you can find it cheaply and need another DVD case to level out your table legs then by all means, give it a try. Otherwise, there is not much here for Austen fans, I’m afraid. Anyone looking for a fresh update of Pride and Prejudice would do better to read our DVD review of Bride and Prejudice, and consider that instead.

Yours

Fitzwilliam Darcy