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Becoming Jane | 
 enlarge | Director: Julian Jarrold
Actors: Anne Hathaway, James Mcavoy, Julie Walters, James Cromwell, Maggie Smith
Studio: MIRAMAX
List Price: $29.99
Buy Used: $6.98
You Save: $23.01 (77%)
Rating:  158 reviews
Format: Ac-3, Closed-captioned, Color, Dolby, Dubbed, Dvd-video, Ntsc, Subtitled, Widescreen
Languages: English (Original Language), French (Subtitled), Spanish (Subtitled), Spanish (Dubbed)
Rating: PG (Parental Guidance Suggested)
Region: 1
Aspect Ratio: 2.35:1
Number Of Items: 1
Running Time: 120 Minutes
Shipping Weight (lbs): 1.3
Dimensions (in): 7.1 x 5.4 x 0.6
MPN: 05410400
UPC: 786936731927
EAN: 0786936731927
ASIN: B000ZIZ0RA
Theatrical Release Date: August 10, 2007
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
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| Editorial Reviews:
Amazon.com
Like Molière, which was released in theaters around the same time, Becoming Jane isn't a conventional biopic. Instead, Julian Jarrold (White Teeth) expands on events from Jane Austen's life that may have shaped her fiction. To his credit, he doesn't stray too far from the facts. In 1795, 20-year-old Jane (Anne Hathaway with believable British accent) is an aspiring author. Her parents (Julie Walters and James Cromwell) married for love, and money is tight. They hope to see their youngest daughter make a more lucrative match, and there's a besotted local, Mr. Wisley (Laurence Fox, son of actor James Fox), who would be happy to oblige. Unfortunately, Jane isn't interested. Then, she meets brash law student Tom (The Last King of Scotland's James McAvoy), while he's staying with relatives in rural Hampshire. As in many Austen novels, it isn't love at first sight--but rather irritation. Just as affection begins to bloom, Tom has to return to London, and Wisley, whose financial prospects are superior, proposes. To complicate matters, Tom's uncle (Ian Richardson in his final performance) disapproves of the outspoken young lady just as much as Wisley's aunt (Maggie Smith, lending the proceedings some subtle humor). Had Austen penned the script, Tom and Wisley would be combined into one person, but life doesn't work that way--and nor does Becoming Jane. Though Jarrold's effort may not be as swoon-worthy as Joe Wright's Pride and Prejudice, it remains true to the spirit of the author's work. --Kathleen C. Fennessy
Product Description
Anne Hathaway (THE DEVIL WEARS PRADA THE PRINCESS DIARIES) gives a radiant performance as a young love-struck Jane Austen in the witty and engaging romantic comedy BECOMING JANE from Miramax Films. It's the untold romance that inspired the novels of one of the world's most celebrated authors. When the dashing Tom Lefroy (James McAvoy THE LAST KING OF SCOTLAND) a reckless and penniless lawyer-to-be enters Jane's life he offends the emerging writer's sense and sensibility. Soon their clashing egos set off sparks that ignite a passionate romance and fuel Jane's dream of doing the unthinkable -- marrying for love. BECOMING JANE also starring the acclaimed Maggie Smith James Cromwell and Julie Walters is an enchanting and imaginative film you'll fall head over heels for.System Requirements:Running Time: 120 Mins.Format: DVD MOVIE Genre: DRAMA/LOVE & ROMANCE Rating: PG UPC: 786936731927 Manufacturer No: 05410400
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| Customer Reviews: Read 5 more reviews...
 Movie Buff August 14, 2008
Carl W. Burton (Rockvale, TN USA)
Good Movie if you like "the good old days in England", if not I doubt it would get more than a 3.
 Not terrible, but not engaging. August 13, 2008
dee
Very mixed feelings about "Becoming Jane". The script sucked. Everything else was fantastic. But without a good plot...what can one expect the actors to do, no matter how good they are?
The script has its moments, like a light bulb sparking before dying out, but there was a lot more dying than sparking and it's not certain resuscitation or defibrillation would help. (Why DOES Jane have to have had her heart broken in order to write about love? How many people has Clancy killed?)
1. Will the real Jane and Lefroy please stand up? What we know of Jane and Lefroy would make a 10 minute movie. It's not exciting, either, those few letters. An elderly Lefroy says his love for Jane was "only a boyish" sort, and one Austen researcher indicates that Lefroy may have already known his future wife when he meets Jane and didn't intend to lead Austen on. I guess this doesn't make for movie fodder, so we get an almost Romeo and Juliet-ish soap opera. Complete with lots of supplied fiction.
2. Lefroy is...who again? Lefroy drinks, fights, visits brothels; unlike Darcy, Lefroy "rattle[s] away like other young men." This behavior continues for a good half of the movie until his amusing friendship with Jane genuinely turns into love. His uncle, who controls his allowance, says no to Jane and makes him marry a wealthy girl, though Lefroy loves Jane. Up until the very end, this is the picture of Willoughby, not Darcy. Darcy and movie Lefroy share only the fact that they both insult the heroine and love their families.
I still can't figure out where this rakish Lefroy image comes from; supposedly he was a great guy and very diligent. I don't think anything indicates he acted this way in real life, so why bother? It makes Jane look stupid - that she's the sort to be swept away by charming manners and a pretty face.
3. Poor, jilted boy...point is? This is a spark in the script, though a very puzzling one. Many viewers and several movie critics picked up on the rejected Wisley; the writer very generously makes him a three-dimensional character. But the question is, why include him at all? Wisley was fictional. The only mirror he has is Jane's Bigg-Wither, who was wealthier than Jane and whose proposal she accepted for one day (before taking it back) - and who wasn't around when Lefroy was. Otherwise Wisley's not even real; moreover, he takes *away* from the plot.
Wisley is always polite but unnaturally quiet and seems to have trouble speaking, unlike the suave Lefroy. He hates dancing but makes an exception for Jane; he clearly recognizes her worth. He is wealthy enough. He has a domineering aunt who only *appears* to dominate his moves: (1) he chooses Jane and Lady Gresham huffs that she doesn't understand his choice (but will go along with it). (2) at the end, he clearly defies his aunt in speaking to a disgraced Jane. He expresses a wish to be loved for himself and not his wealth; his other comments have great intellectual and emotional depth. His only Collins-ish move is stepping on Jane's foot in a dance (there's already a dumb vicar to fill that Collins role), but he very humbly admits that he knows he is not good at it but has been practicing (there's even a deleted scene where he practices). We learn from a deleted scene that he even proposes (or at least attempts to) to Jane twice. If the powers that be were trying to write a Darcy, they were looking at the wrong guy.
Even worse, Jane's rejection of Wisley makes *her* look shallow for not seeing his inner qualities, *and* she has no Marianne/Elizabeth type of epiphany. She even accuses Wisley of writing Lefroy's uncle to sabotage her relationship with Lefroy and doesn't apologize or show regret when she discovers it wasn't him who did it. The only thing that Wisley stands to prove is (1) Jane won't marry for money alone, and who *didn't* already know that? and (2) Laurence Fox inherited his family's acting genes. So what's the point of including him?
4. Pointing out the obvious.... This is as bad the dork who always explains the punchline of a joke, and the script keeps doing it. Mrs. Austen is a screeching harridan, prompting a friend (who totally bought the Lefroy-Jane story) to comment that they should have gotten 1995's Alison Steadman to play Mrs. Austen. Mr. Austen is a sweet old man who indulges Jane. The vicar is a buffonish dork (and later just awful). Lady Gresham has Lady Catherine's lines pouring out of her mouth. The script takes the "Pride and Prejudice" golf club and beats its viewers over the head with it until people start falling unconscious; even worse, it makes Jane look uncreative, as though all her witticisms are recycled from neighbors rather than coming from her own mind.
As a story, the movie tanks, but it has other good stuff. Visually it made excellent use of the countryside, and Jane Gibson shows why she choreographed both the 2005 and 1995 "P&P"s and the 2007 and 1999 "Mansfield Park"s. The DVD itself seems pretty good, though the sound seemed a little on the low side to me. Lots of extras - deleted scenes and interviews.
Acting's pretty good, too. McAvoy is charming, and he plays the put-upon and downtrodden lover well. (I'd love to see his comedic work!) Hathaway is sweet; her reading at her sister's engagement has got all the tongue-in-cheek wit to make it sound Austen-ish. Their chemistry seems to work only okay, but it was hard to tell whether they didn't mesh or the script stank. Other big names are underused but are fine in their roles. Lucy Cohu's cousin is fantastic.
My favorites, though, are Laurence Fox and Anna Maxwell Martin. Fox's Wisley manages to be standoffish and uncomfortable while making his devotion to Jane clear, wearing a mask but letting some emotion peep through. He sells that guy brilliantly. Martin, though, is the scene-stealer as Cassandra. She's not as pretty as Hathaway, but I found myself watching her rather than Hathaway when they shared scenes. Cassandra's puzzlement when she gets Jane's letter (with all the words cut out of it), her smiles while her eyes dance with joy at her fiance, and her deep grief at his death--all brilliantly, brilliantly done. Martin does so fantastically even with small roles (like "Doctor Who"), but watch her earlier bonnet adventure as Esther Summerson to see her range.
Fine collection of talent; too bad there's not that much for them to work from.
Sure to please Jane Austen fans August 2, 2008
Karen Potts (Lake Jackson, Texas)
1 out of 1 found this review helpful
Jane Austen was a woman ahead of her time. She was independent and chose to work as an author, an unheard of concept at the time. Her own life revolved around the necessity of finding "a suitable match" which would assure her financial future, just as the characters in her book. It is easy to see the parallel between her own life as the daughter of parents with limited means, and many of the characters in her books. Anne Hathaway does a good job of portraying the unconventional Jane, and James McAvoy creates some sparks as the love of Jane's life. The supporting parts are well-played and the background of the English countryside is lovely.
I glad I watched it ! July 28, 2008
C. Brigden (Minot, ND)
I like reading and watching movie regarding this genre so It was an automatic hit for me. My husband sat through the movie and said he was glad he watched it. We both than googled Jane's history and found that some of the story was hollywood but you did get the feel of what it was like for female writer in that time of history.
It rated PG - one small bare bottom shot and some men boxing but nothing too violent.
 Pretty to look at, but the whole story feels very forced July 20, 2008
Melissa Niksic (Chicago, IL United States)
3 out of 3 found this review helpful
"Becoming Jane" is a so-so film that depicts events which may have shaped the life of author Jane Austen (played by Anne Hathaway). In the movie, Jane's parents (James Cromwell and Julie Walters) are anxious for their daughter to marry, but no one is able to meet Jane's high standards. When Tom (James McAvoy), a brash Irish law student, arrives in town, Jane is instantly irritated by his very presence, à la Elizabeth Bennett and Mr. Darcy. However, annoyance quickly blossoms into affection, but unfortunately for Jane and Tom, they don't seem destined for a happy ending.
I had high expectations for this film, and was disappointed. I'm not a big fan of Anne Hathaway, and she didn't win me over playing Jane Austen. I didn't sense any real chemistry between Jane and Tom, which pretty much ruined the whole movie. "Becoming Jane" has beautiful scenery, fun costumes, an exquisite musical score, and a great supporting cast, but all that isn't enough to carry this film. My advice is to skip this movie and watch "Pride and Prejudice" instead.
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