Month: August 2007

Becoming Jane is a historical romantic tragicomedy that manages to be neither historically accurate, nor romantic, nor tragic, nor funny. But it stars the delightfully devious and too-debonair-for-the-script, James McAvoy. I went into the movie expecting that it had no basis on reality and was going to be silly. Yet I had hoped and assumed the film would at least be cute and romantic. I was wrong. Becoming Jane claims to tell the story of Jane Austen’s (Anne Hathaway) love affair with the supposedly debaucherous, wordly Tom Lefroy (the up-and-coming heart-throb that can actually act, James McAvoy) who apparently inspired her writing; in reality, Jane Austen biographies reveal that Tom Lefroy was an acquaintance of hers for no more than one week so this part of the story, presumably, like everything else, is far from the reality of Austen’s life.

Hathaway’s Jane is supposedly a witty writer and a fan of the ironic. Yet she is incapable of intelligent expression and remains essentially naïve, idealistic, and ignorant. There is no cynicism or embitterment – even after she encounters hardships – that would believably lead to this character being able to produce the clever social satires of the real Jane Austen. She falls for Lefroy, but their love comes as a surprise. They flirt in a manner far too open for the time and with no sign of true affection beyond sexual attraction. Even their supposed banter is sparse and lacks wit. Lefroy insists that Jane requires life experience in order that her writing might equal the panache of a man’s. Apparently life experience is a euphemism for ‘orgasm’ and Lefroy seems to hope he may have the opportunity to oblige. At one point in the film, Jane informs Lefroy that society’s rules prevent her from behaving in any way that might violate her perceived chastity. As the experienced, and probably syphilis-ridden suitor, he behaves with the decorum of a 21^st century playboy trapped in a 19^th century setting. And Jane waltzes around like a magnificent oaf, unable to either understand her situation in life or decide how to spend it. At all the moments I felt I should feel emotion, I was left only mildly caring about the outcome of the story.

Continue reading “Becoming Jane, Starter for Ten, Date Movie”

The Simpsons Movie would not be the first example of a well-liked television show that was turned into a movie, capitalizing on a huge fan base that would see the movie regardless of whether or not it was any good. But most of the time these movies just do not manage to live up to the series; Joss Whedon’s Firefly attempted a move to the big screen, and while Serenity was not a bad movie, it paled by comparison to the original series. The Simpson Movie, however, manages to be just as good as the series. If you are a Simpsons fan, you’ll probably really enjoy the movie. But if you watched the series casually, as I did, when there was nothing else on, the movie will not convert you into a hard-core fan, intent upon catching up on some eighteen years worth of episodes. In fact, it will probably just leave you reasonably underwhelmed and confused about all the hype for the movie.

Perhaps it’s a credit to the simplicity of the Simpsons characters, but I found the characters just as well introduced, interesting, and easy to understand as I did when I saw various episodes in the series. You certainly do not need to be an avid fan of the show to understand the movie. Movies like Serenity were too plot-driven, not giving you enough of an opportunity to understand the potentially interesting and complex characters that we saw on the series. The Simpsons Movie does not encounter this problem, but the characters are mere caricatures; we are not supposed to think much about them.

Continue reading “The Simpsons Movie: it really is just like television”