BECOMING JANE

RYAN: It’s not “Being John Malkovich”; it’s “Becoming Jane” (Austen).

CAROLINE: It’s the somewhat-fictionalized-but-based-on-reality story of Jane Austen’s life. How she became a writer, why she never married, etc. And my God, is it way too long!

RYAN: It’s definitely too long, but that’s not where I’d begin. It’s a true period piece – the costumes, the setting, the vocabulary. For lovers of Jane Austen’s books and the movies based on her books, you will delight in this film.

CAROLINE: I can’t speak to that because I’m not a fan of her books. This movie just didn’t work for me. It sort of did at first, but then it really didn’t because it just dragged on and on.

RYAN: The movie will lead you to believe that Jane Austen’s life inspired “Pride and Prejudice.”

CAROLINE: But without the happy ending that so many of her books have.

RYAN: Jane is played by Anne Hathaway, who is one of my favorite actresses…

CAROLINE: …and one of my least favorite…

RYAN: …and she makes me feel like I overuse the word “gorgeous” when I speak of other people, because she truly is. She looks great in this movie; but I’m very disappointed in her half-English accent.

CAROLINE: It’s like she barely even tried. She does a wisp of an accent that some dialect coach must have taught her, but half the time you couldn’t tell if she was doing any accent.

RYAN: There were some lines where she barely had the accent and there were others where she had it a little, which was so weird sounding because almost everyone else in the movie is either English or Scottish. I’m pleased to report that Mrs. Weasley and Professor McGonagall from the Harry Potter films are both in this movie.

CAROLINE: It’s clear that Anne was hoping that this role would be her leading lady turn, a la Gwyneth Paltrow in “Emma,” or Renée Zellweger in “Bridget Jones’s Diary.” But Anne, sweetie, this just in: the Weinsteins don’t own Miramax anymore and this movie isn’t going to do for your career what those other movies did for Gwynnie and Renée.

RYAN: Anne gives a great performance, but you’re right; and I think it’s primarily because she didn’t prove that she could do an English accent. But her love interest, played by James McAvoy, was fabulous. He has eyes that you could swim in.

CAROLINE: He has a big, sexy nose too. I really dug him, and their scenes together were great.

RYAN: I loved the scenery in this movie.

CAROLINE: The settings are beautiful. The houses where it takes place are old, ivy-covered British manors and they were really stunning.

RYAN: It’s a real underdog story because being a female writer in the late 1700s, Jane Austen truly had the odds stacked against her; but she prevailed and became one of the most successful writers ever. I liked how this movie gives a very realistic view of life. It’s not always a happy ending. People die, people go away to war, people don’t always get to be with the loves of their lives.

CAROLINE: I think you liked this movie more than I did.

RYAN: Fine. Bottom line?

CAROLINE: It’s not a bad movie – it’s well shot, it looks nice and the acting is good. But I was just kinda bored. I cared about the story for a bit, and then I didn’t. I felt like it was going to end several times, but then it just kept going and going. I almost felt camaraderie with the obese guy next to me who fell asleep and was snoring loudly.

RYAN: Oh my God, that was so funny. Everyone was turning around to stare at him. But it worries me that that’s your bottom line because this movie is clearly a chick flick and if you didn’t love it, who will? But I enjoyed it. It’s a period film, so you have to be in the mood for it. Otherwise just rent it – you don’t have to see it in the theater.