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Gripping story with well-crafted characters

Good story, Not enough for a whole film

The film creates a perfect balance between action and depth of basic needs, in the midst of an infertile atmosphere.

One of the worst ways to make a cult movie is to set out to make a cult movie.

A young woman who just remained without a governess, starts playing Cupid with her best friend. Foolish and without experience, she hopes to do a good job but the whole act she's been playing will soon turn against her.It's a film which presents the adventures of a girl who thinks she can be a good matchmaker, especially for her closest friend, whose clumsiness and social position prove to be a big obstacle when talking about marriage with better standing suitors. Although it seemed like a good idea, it turned out to be a big disappointment. The characters lack essence and complexity while the plot is very simplistic, linear and thus predictable. We are faced with multiple awkward moments, bad or even stupid decisions made by the characters, the entire set seeming to be much like a soap opera. Although being described as a comedy, it isn't funny at all... you somehow tend to laugh at the stupidity of the characters, rather than the action itself or the intended or unintended puns. The finale did nothing to improve the overall impression, being as expected as it was dull.It's hard to find good aspects regarding this one, which I simply cannot recommend to anyone, from any point of view. Maybe except the scenery and some of the actors' performance.

Every so often, one comes across a film in which a performance gives the impression that the role might have been written for the performer, or that the performer was born for the role. Of course, the nearly 200 years between Jane Austen's penning of her novel and actress Gwyneth Paltrow playing the role of Emma in this 1996 movie, makes the former impossible. The latter, too, is impossible, except as we use it in hyperbole. For it does indeed seem to this reviewer that Gwyneth Paltrow was made to play the role of Emma Woodhouse.This 1996 film of Austen's fine novel is a delight, and Paltrow gives it a warm and endearing glow in her humorous quest as cupid. To be sure, this story is a wonderful comedy of manners by Austen about the customs and mores of pastoral England during the Georgian era. The irony here is less biting than in her works where the topics are bared in the titles for all to see, as in "Pride and Prejudice" and "Sense and Sensibility." It also is tempered somewhat here by the good aspects of the landed gentry in their care for the social welfare of those around them. But the vanity of Emma in imagining that she is a gifted matchmaker, with her outward semblance of humility in such matters, is what Austen explores to the hilt in this novel. And, Paltrow plays it to perfection – as I said, even endearingly so. This is just a wonderful story that doesn't grow old. It has been a few decades since I read Austen, but I now enjoy occasionally sitting down to a fine film of one of her stories. Austen does something that many modern writers of fiction seem to ignore, or otherwise fail to do. She explores most of her characters in detail. Not all at once, but bit by bit. And so, we get a good picture of what each one is about. The modern penchant of so many writers is to focus on the main character or two or three, and let the others fall by the wayside. They are out of sight and out of mind by the end of the story. Not so with Austen. In this story, for instance, there are no fewer than a dozen significant characters, most of whom pop in and out as the story goes along. But we never forget them, because they count for something in the story. We remember Miss Bates when she isn't in a scene for some time. Likewise, the vicar, Mr. Elton. Mr. and Mrs. Weston have wonderful pasts and appear here and there in the story. And so on. All of the cast are superb in this rendition of Austen's "Emma," and many are the best portrayals of their respective roles among all the films made of this novel. Besides Gwyneth Paltrow as Emma, the other best performances are Jeremy Northam as Mr. Knightley, Toni Collette as Harriet Smith, Sophie Thompson as Miss Bates, Alan Cumming as Mr. Elton, Polly Walker as Jane Fairfax, and Juliet Stevenson as Mrs. Elton. Aside from the overall wonderful casting and performances, this film, better than any other, captures the beauty of the pastoral setting. No other film comes close to the splendid scenario of the picnic on Box Hill. The film was shot at a dozen locations in England. This is a wonderful movie fit for the whole family, though the restless, the impatient and modernists may not be able or want to sit still for it. Now, something must be said about the various renditions of this fine Austen comedy of manners. Six versions have been made for theater or television release. The two earliest BBC productions apparently are not available anywhere (a 1948 movie of 105 minutes, and a 1960 miniseries of 180 minutes in six episodes). The four available renditions all tell Austen's story with most of the main scenarios of her novel. The miniseries give more time to certain characters as well as extended dialog in some scenarios. The 1972 miniseries, starring Dorin Godwin, is far better than the most recent production, the 2009 miniseries starring Romola Garai. The latter's characters are changed significantly, and the modernistic adaptation belies the culture of Austen's time. At the same time that this 1996 independent film of "Emma" was being made, another was being made for TV by ITV/A&E. It starred Kate Beckinsale. While her performance was very good, her character didn't have the hubris that Austen wrote into her. That 107-minute film was a little dark and more serious, with the humor somewhat muted. That is most evident in scenes with Mark Strong's Mr. Knightley. His character seemed lacking in the warmth and magnanimity that Jeremy Northam captures and displays in this film. Were she alive to rate the various renditions of her work today, Jane Austen may find shortcomings in all of them. But in ranking them for portraying her comedy of manners, she would surely find this two-hour film with Paltrow and Northam to be the best.My subject line title above is taken from the story. Knightly says the line, halfway to himself as he goes off perturbed at Emma's meddling in the romance of others. The film has many humorous scenarios and fine lines of witty dialog, courtesy of Jane Austen. See the Quotes section on this film's IMDb Web page for more fun dialog. Here's one more sample.Emma has given the cook the menu for that night's dinner, and she has been preoccupied with thoughts of Mr. Knightly. The cook, "Oh, is Mr. Knightly coming? Emma, "Why do you say that?" The Cook, "Lamb stew is his favorite."

An adaptation of a Jane Austen novel of the same name, Douglas McGrath's "Emma" stars Gwyneth Paltrow as Emma, a young woman living in 19th century England. Believing herself to be a gifted matchmaker, Emma sets about meddling in the affairs of various young men and women, all of whom she hopes to steer toward love.Today, Jane Austen's a bit of a feminist icon. Unlike many novelists of her time, she wrote about women's daily lives and concerns, her conception of female morality wasn't limited to chastity or prudishness, she acknowledged female sexual desire and considered women the intellectual equals of men. On the flip-side, Austen's novels at times demonstrate a class bias and are essentially always about man-obsessed socialites, privileged white girls and members of the landed gentry – the Paris Hiltons and Kim Kardashians of 19th century England.Funnier and brisker than most Jane Austen adaptation's, "Emma" is buoyed by a fine cast. Toni Collette and Alan Cumming are very good in particular, the former playing an "unsophisticated" but lovable young woman, the latter playing a church minister who finds himself wedded to an overbearing wife. Jeremy Northan plays Mister George Knightley, a dashing suitor of the type Austen loved to conjure up. A man of "good judgement", "character" and "high moral calibre", he's essentially 19th century eye-candy. Take a hike Mr Darcy.7.9/10 – See "Gosford Park", "Bright Star", Ang Lee's "Sense and Sensibility" and "The Remains of the Day".

bitesizemoviereview dot blogspot dot com Though I have not read the Jane Austen novel, I thoroughly enjoyed this film adaption. For the most part, the acting was good and the sets were decent. Every now and then, a character would appear in a coat or a haircut that seemed out of place for the time period. Paltrow was well-suited for her role as Emma, a nosy but likable "matchmaker." The dances performed in the film seemed to be taken from A&E's Pride and Prejudice a year earlier--of course, the time period is relatively the same, but Emma would have been better off not using the exact same dance and musical score. Although the quality of this film is not top-notch, I enjoyed it for the witty acting and light romance plot.