Unbecoming Jane

The verdicts are rolling in on Becoming Jane:

A Professor of English Literature at Oxford declares, "If Becoming Jane did not purport to be about Jane Austen it would be an engaging film - as it is, it is breathtakingly stupid." (This is, incidentally, roughly how yours truly felt about P&P 2005 - if it had not claimed to be Austen's novel, it would have been decent. As it was, it felt like it had been rewritten by the Brontes...)

Ireland's RTE reviewer Brendan Cole begins by pointing out that "idiotic theories are very much in vogue in cinema these days" and ends by saying that the film is "so underwhelming that it is impossible to recommend anyone to actually go and see it." He says a lot of other scathing but intelligent things in between, so go read it!

If you're in the mood for something lighter, the Telegraph has a tongue-in-cheek piece satirizing biopics and their general inclination to never allow facts to get in the way of a good story.

On the slightly more positive side, the esteemed guest reviewer at AustenBlog admits that Anne Hathaway did a "credible job" and that overall, "Becoming Jane is not at all that bad. It’s rather watchable. And for a Made Up Film, I didn’t groan that much at all."

We'll see what happens once the film makes it to this side of the pond in August. Honestly, between the made-up elopement, the made-up meeting with Anne Radcliffe, the lack of concern for period fashion or customs, and the generally obnoxious self-deprecating whining Ms. Hathaway has been engaging in since she got the role, I'm not sure that I'm going to be able to sit through this one, even on DVD!