Becoming Jane

Andrew and I are spending our last day off together by watching as many movies as we can. We won't get to watch very many before thanksgiving, and after thanksgiving we switch gears and can only watch Christmas movies. Then once Christmas has passed, or we finish all the movies, we will then resume our normal list of movies. If we don't finish all the movies by Christmas then we will simply watch them as they come up in the normal collection.

So this movie was one of those movies that you just think it will be good, so you go ahead and get it without ever watching it. Then once you watch it, you are extremely disappointed. (AKA Atonement) Hmm. I can't help but notice the huge James McAvoy connection between these two movies. The last 15 minutes are good in this movie, and basically sum up everything about it, but everything up until then is just slow and boring.

Basically this movie follows Jane Austen (Anne Hathaway) before her fame of Pride and Prejudice. This movie kind of shows the inspiration for the book. So for those who are a fan of the story, its fun to see the connections and where she gets inspirations for different parts of the book.

Basically she doesn't really want to marry unless its for love, but her mom encourages her to marry for money. She then means aspiring lawyer Tommy Lafroy (James McAvoy) who at first she can't stand. Then they start to fall in love. He then takes her to meet his Uncle, a very  important man who determines his nephews future heavily since he will one day inherit all of his stuff. The Uncle and Jane don't get along very well, and an anonymous letter sent to the Uncle about Jane's character doesn't help matters either. He says that they can't be together. They both accept this and go their own ways. Tommy gets engaged to a proper lady for him, and Jane accepts the proposal of a Mr. Weasley, nephew to Maggie Smith (the Catherine DeBurg character) However then they meet up again and decide to run away to Scotland and get married. On their carriage ride, Jane discovers just how many people depend on Tommy, and how this ruin of his reputation will effect more than just him. She breaks things off with him for good and never marries. She lives by her pen.

The movie then flashes many many years in the future, where Tommy and Jane happen to be at the same social gathering. He introduces his daughter named Jane and they get a little bit of closure, and we see the huge success that Miss Austen has become.

This movie was not one of our favorites. There were lots of great cameos though. There was Maggie Smith, Julie Walters (Mrs. Weasley from HP!), the farmer from Babe, and Max from Across the Universe.

It was interesting to see her family dynamic, which is so different from her books, who have largely female clans. She had only 1 sister, who also never married. 1 brother who married their cousin, a Countess, and another brother who is deaf.

The first thing I said to Andrew before the movie started was "Get ready for a terrible british accent by Anne Hathaway" He replied "Oh no, her american accent is already terrible enough. I hate her voice" This was a tough one for him to watch.

Andrew's Closing Thought: I'm still waiting for Becoming Jane to become good

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