Emma

Never forget that Jane Austen's novels were thinly veiled social critiques of English country life while at the same time typical romances (boy meets girl, boy loses girl, boy gets girl back). It's the latter that makes the novels appealing to Hollywood and its viewers, but the best of the ilk meld Austen's original views with the universal story. This rendition of Emma is simply fine -- it adds a dollop of those original views to the Hollywood glitz. Gwyneth Paltrow plays Emma in her big film break, with all the actor tics we're so used to now on full display. Don't get me wrong, I like Paltrow, but I prefer her when raw (see Flesh and Bone for that). Jeremy Northam is better as the foil to Paltrow's Emma, constantly commenting on her behavior and mannerisms, while of course secretly being in love with her. Delightful, of course, to watch the plot twists and turns, ogle the costume design (probably the best of them all) and enjoy, of particular note, Toni Collette as the clueless new friend of Emma's and unwitting recipient of her Machiavellian designs and Sophie Thompson as a dimwitted chatterbox friend of the family (and compare her work with that of the sister in Persuasion).

year: 1996
length: 121 min.
rating: 3.0
IMDB link: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0116191/combined