susan, susan, susan

Sense & Sensibility

[Columbia Pictures, 1995]

starring:
Emma Thompson, Kate Winslet, Hugh Grant
Greg Wise, Alan Rickman, Robert Hardy, Elizabeth Spriggs,
Gemma Jones

average rating: ★★★★★
~
performance: ★★★★★
screenplay: ★★★★★
plot/storyline: ★★★★★
cinematography: ★★★★½
~
jane austen, need i say more?

This is one of the best Jane Austen movies out there, period. Emma Thompson, who plays one of the main characters, wrote the screenplay and it is a superb adaption to the original story, or what I have read of it. The performance is excellent. Hugh Grant is the best stutterer I've ever seen, Emma pulls off her character quite perfectly, Kate Winslet is very good as the extremist, and Alan Rickman and Greg Wise are both great. And though each of these are really good, the most entertaining actors in the movie are Robert Hardy and Elizabeth Spriggs, who are the best laughers ever, and Imelda Stauton and Hugh Laurie, who play a funny mismatched couple.

The screenplay is great, making the story flow very nicely. Out of all of the Austen movies, this is the most comedic. There's lots of jokes and funny lines and is generally warmer than the others. The story itself is a classic Austen, troubles with men and money. But the characters are endearing, down to the very last actor.

[watched for no-one-knows-how-many-ith time, 12-31-07]
[poster courtesty of www.impawards.com]