Becoming Jane

Starring: Anne Hathaway, James McAvoy, James Cromwell, Julie Walters, Maggie Smith
Directed by: Julian Jarrold
Rating: PG
Genre: Drama, Romance
2007

Times Seen:
Tim: 1

Summary: Jane Austen (Anne Hathaway) is an aspiring author who is more focused on writing than on finding love. This changes, however, when she meets a law student (James McAvoy), whom she first dislikes but slowly grows to love.

Review:

Tim: I am a Jane Austen fan. I think she is an exceptional writer, and so I was pretty excited about this movie. I like the idea of an unconventional biopic, one that uses information from letters to inform its dramatic and romantic moments. I like the idea of real life events inspiring some of Austen's greatest writing. It is fun to watch, knowing a bit about how the story ends. The problem is that this movie isn't particularly interesting. The story works, but the film is a bit on the boring side. I wish events would move along at a bit of a quicker pace. Still, this movie isn't entirely unenjoyable.

The film puts a lot of pressure on its cast to carry the movie. This doesn't exactly work. Anne Hathaway as Jane Austen is probably inspired casting. This is a difficult role to play, and Hathaway definitely puts some effort into it. I can't exactly place my finger on it, but she isn't great in the role. She works, she does good work, but she leaves something to be desired. I am not saying that someone else could have done better (I am not sure anyone could have), but I wish that Hathaway did more to make this role her own. Her costar, James McAvoy does a very good job. I am increasingly becoming a bigger and bigger fan of him. He certainly has a good deal of chemistry and he works well in the role. I liked McAvoy and Hathaway together. I wouldn't say they have overwhelmingly good chemistry, but they certainly did work well together. The supporting cast is good as well, although I wish James Cromwell had more screen time.

The movie needed a boost of something- anything- to make it more interesting and exciting. It plods along at a slow, almost novel-esque pace (what works in books obviously doesn't work the same for movies). I never got more than mildly interested in the movie. Now, there were some good scenes as well. I love the dance scene where Hathaway is looking for McAvoy, dancing with some other guy, and another man passes in front of the camera, turns around- and bam- there is McAvoy. This was a small moment, but one of my favorites in the film. The love story between Hathaway and McAvoy is good, but I think more could have been done to make this even more powerful.

While I am being a bit critical of this film, I do have to admit that it works on a number of levels. I like the entire idea of this movie- a love story about an author known for her romantic tales. This film is at least partially original, and I appreciate that. It features good performances, works enough to keep our attention, and manages to have a few great moments. Becoming Jane is certainly not a great movie, but I didn't mind watching it too much. I can think of worse ways to spend two hours.

Rating 1-10
Tim's Rating: 6.5



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