Tag Archives: Mr. Darcy

200 reasons

Today is the 200th anniversary of the publication of Pride & Prejudice.

Fans around the world will celebrate this, one of our greatest works of literature, and its prolific author Jane Austen.

Myself?

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I celebrate the movie and its unforgettable Mr. Darcys.  I use the plural because I find everyone has a favorite.

Mine is Matthew Macfadyen, who starred opposite Keira Knightley. I loved his interpretation — quiet, shy, judgmental, passionate.

I’ve loved everything else he has acted in as well.

Thanks, Jane, for the introduction.

Popping the question

My nephew got engaged last week.

He proposed to his girlfriend while they were making dinner at his apartment.  They texted me the news, including photos of the ring.  A few days later they made the announcement on Facebook.

A modern love story.

I couldn’t help but compare that to Mr. Darcy’s proposal to Elizabeth Bennet in Pride & Prejudice.  (I watched it again last night when my cable box was on the fritz.)

He proposed the first time in the rain.  They argued, and she rejected him.

The second time (pictured here) they met in the middle of a field — in the middle of the night — in their night clothes. 

Then Mr. Darcy asked Elizabeth’s father for her hand in marriage before the family had even eaten breakfast.

For such a proper time in history, that whole thing seems a bit scandalous in comparison….don’t you think?   Imagine your own son or daughter wandering into your front lawn at dawn in their PJs talking weddings.  You’d think they were drunk.

Of course, it would make a good story.

Where’s the love?

There’s a whole lotta hatin’ going on Facebook and Twitter about tomorrow’s Royal Wedding.

True, the news media is filled to bursting with coverage — all the minutiae on Kate and Wills, their families, the wedding parties, the route, the ceremony, the receptions, the ridiculous souvenirs.

It’s almost as annoying as NBC’s promotion of The Voice.

But how can Americans spew such bitterness upon these nuptials, when we typically lavish such love on all things British?

Don’t we get all excited each summer come Wimbledon… even though its finals fall on or around our nation’s Independence Day?  Sure, we have the US Open in September, but their tennis tournament has the Duke and Duchess of Kent, strawberries and cream, and spiffy tennis whites.

It’s so proper.  It’s soooo not us.

And don’t we love the actors and actresses who hail from the British isle, with their superior dramatic training and — most importantly — their glorious British accentsDidn’t we just bestow the Best Actor Oscar on the very worthy Colin Firth for his performance in The King’s Speech?  We love him ‘exactly as he is’ — for his Mr. Darcy-ness — a quality that could not be achieved if he were not British.

You know it’s true.

So, America, try to recapture some of the love for the British that was in your heart when you gave The King’s Speech the Best Picture Oscar…when the very prickly, very American The Social Network clearly deserved to win.

It’s there.  You’ve just forgotten.

(Ad campaigns will do that to you.)

Original idea?

Finally…the critics and I agree!

While Roger Ebert was all up in arms about the ‘reprehensible’ superhero flick “Kick Ass,” I was more upset by the Chris Rock vehicle “Death at a Funeral.”

Nothing against Rock, but I loved the original British version released a mere three years ago.

Isn’t a buppy version a bit premature?

Turns out many critics felt exactly the same way.  As the New York Daily News so succinctly summed it up, “…unless you also intend to improve upon the first attempt, what’s the point?”

The original movie starred Matthew MacFadyen — best known to American audiences as Mr. Darcy to Keira Knightley’s Elizabeth Bennett in “Pride & Prejudice” — and Peter Dinklage, who plays the identical role in the new version.

Think about it.  Wouldn’t audiences have questioned a new version of “Jerry MaGuire” three years later?  A buppy take on “You’ve Got Mail?”  The “Lord of the Rings” trilogy remade with a new cast of actors?

Granted, the original “Death at a Funeral” wasn’t a big commercial success, but still — it’s like no one wants to take a chance on a new script these days. Better to re-do than do something original…

like “The Joneses”, which I did see this weekend.

A black comedy, this movie contains a premise I have never seen before.  Well-acted. Interesting. Unexpected.

Brace yourself.