February usually sees a ton of Valentine's themed romances from Hallmark, but 2024 saw them throw their hats in the Jane Austen ring. Some, were more successful than others.
Week one gave us Paging Mr. Darcy a modern take on the idea of the fan convention. It mixed all the works of Austen creating a nice reference point. Sadly, it's been done in both Jane Austen Book Club and Austenland. Week two, gave us Love and Jane. Which also managed to mix most of the novels together, referencing in tone to Northanger Abbey but latching on to Pride and Prejudice in style. Week three gave us An American in Austen. This remake of P/P is nothing more than a direct rip off of Lost in Austen. And week four, was a pretty straight forward remake of Sense and Sensibility.
I was greatly disappointed with this version of Sense and Sensibility. Given it is a Hallmark movie, it had a two hour constraint on it; but still managed to hit all the major plot points. This sadly, didn't change the fact it still felt rushed. I can't pinpoint if it was the editing or the actor's delivery, but it felt like they were checking their watches and just speeding through without much thought to their characters. And seeing the characters in obvious eyeshadow drove me nuts. I also did not understand the choice they made with the actor who played Mrs. Ferris? It feels like the movie is setting up from the beginning to tackle not just the usual plotline of social standing and class divide, but of possible racism. Only, to reveal that Mrs. Ferris is herself a non-white character. It feels like it lost itself in it's own eagerness of translation. As if the production heads were going in that direction and then pivoted.
The second film in this Hallmark collection- Love and Jane- was by far my favourite. It knew what it was, who it was catering to. The most original of the "modern takes", it had solid lead actors who both know how to make a Hallmark movie bend to their will. The chemistry was there, unlike some of the other collection's pairing. Each of the other three films - Paging Mr. Darcy, An American in Austen and Sense and Sensibility, had an unbalanced lead pair. Offering only one half of their main romantic couple as being able to carry their film.
Comments