For anglophiles, Jane Austen represents something of a pinnacle of writer embellishing her works with the kind of victorian frothiness one comes to expect from English literature; with expectations maybe being Charles Dickens or William Makepeace Thackeray. Though, the reading public has no doubt been enamored by her well-mannered books.
They’re the six novels that launched a thousand other romantics to meditate and rely on them for their own novels in perfunctory roles. Whilst also spawning a cavalcade of movies that have varying degrees of acclaim. Needless to say, Jane Austen is still big business.
“Austenland,” based off a novel by Shannon Hale, arrived to the same acclaim from readers of the novel and sought to demolish some of the mystery that comes with being the ever mercurial Mr. Darcy.
The book adapted for the screen by writer/director Jerusha Hess, one half of the husband (Jared Hess) and wife team behind the awkward chronicles such as “Gentleman Broncos” and “Napolean Dynamite,” couples the willing heroine of Jane Hayes (Keri Russell, “The Americans”) and a surreal fantasy land based on the works of Jane Austen’s world.
Jane has an addiction and it’s Mr. Darcy. This obsession infects many facets of her life. She carries around a tote bag proclaiming her love of Mr. Darcy and her room displays an embarrassment of riches of an Austen fan.
Seeking to finally fulfill her hopes of one day meeting her own man of nobility, Jane plans a trip to Austenland run by a stuffy, pretentious Mrs. Wattlesbrook (Jane Seymour, “Wedding Crashers”) and upon her arrival is met by a bubbly Mrs. Elizabeth Charming (Jennifer Coolidge, “Gentleman Broncos”).
Because of Jane’s unwillingness to pay up the money for the deluxe experience package for an extra special Austen experience, she’s treated as a second class citizen within Austenland gilded interiors.
“Austenland” is a pleasurable and relaxed experience to sit through. Jennifer Coolidge provides many of the films most ebullient moments and delivers quite enjoyable improvised malapropisms. J.J. Field (“Captain America: The First Avenger”) as the estimable Mr. Henry Nobly does well with the material given, he delivers well attuned performance as the guarded and reserved aristocrat for an Austen adaptation.
The film is resplendent with off-beat characters and the proceedings within the “Austenland” are decidedly light. The largest conflict present might be a lovers quarrel or a broken rule in the household. But the film does have it’s inspired moments such as a play performed in the middle of the film recalling the visual spectacle of Terry Gilliam’s “The Adventures of Baron Munchausen.”
“Austenland” does have its tarnishes. The film contains a trainwreck of an ending and a thirty two car pile up of the cast performing in a music video reel during the credits that if you were to avert your eyes before then the preceding footage will certainly make for a much better delightful, airy conclusion more satisfying than that of the egregiously misjudged ending(s).
But “There is no charm equal to tenderness of heart.” Jane Austen wrote and “Austenland” certainly does contain plenty of heart. But the film falls for the same romantic claptrap, by the end, that it’s trying to renounce.
“Austenland” is a mild comedy of manners that’s worth being a little bit more prim and proper under the collar for.
dkahen-kashi@theeagleonline.com
