Emma Review
PG: Brief partial nudityRuntime: 2 Hours and 4 MinutesProduction Companies: Perfect World Pictures, Working Title Films, Blueprint PicturesDistributor: Focus FeaturesDirector: Autumn de WildeWriters: Eleanor CattonCast: Anya Taylor-Joy, Johnny Flynn, Josh O'Connor, Callum Turner, Mia Goth, Miranda Hart, Bill NighyRelease Date: February 21, 2020
Jane Austen's beloved comedy about finding your equal and earning your happy ending is reimagined. Handsome, clever, and rich, Emma Woodhouse is a restless queen bee without rivals in her sleepy little town. In this glittering satire of social class and the pains of growing up, Emma must adventure through misguided matches and romantic missteps to find the love that has been there all along.
Okay, I’m not going to front on this… I didn’t read much of Jane Austen growing up. When it came to 18th/19th Century English writers, I was a full-on Bronte boi. So, instead of getting myself acquainted with Pride and Prejudice, Sense and Sensibility, or Emma, I was hooked on Jane Eyre and Wuthering Heights. Honestly, I wasn’t even aware that this film was based on one of Austen’s books until after I watched it.Funny enough, throughout this movie my dumbass thought, “Wow, this reminds me so much of Clueless.” I didn’t know Clueless was largely inspired by Emma. Heck, I didn’t know this was a Jane Austen book. All I knew was Pride and Prejudice! I know revealing this might invalidate this review because I went into it completely blind. And even then, I thoroughly liked it.
We’re all collectively aware of how talented actress Anya Taylor-Joy is. Whenever she stars in a feature (aside from Playmobil but we don’t talk about that), you know she’s bound to deliver an exceptional performance, which she does here as the titular character. This is a relatively new kind of performance for her and, as per usual, she slays it. With her line delivery, physical actions, and oftentimes both at once, Taylor-Joy had me cracking up throughout. This is another showcase of her endless talent and range. This is a new variant of comedy — her last performance in the genre was the dark Cory Findley flick Thoroughbreds — and she really sells it. Some lines of dialogue caught me off guard and Taylor-Joy’s comedic timing is impeccable. Even though this is a period comedy and not my personal brand, I’d love to see Taylor-Joy star in other comedies in the future because she brings so much to the table. Aside from the lead herself, so much of the film’s enjoyment stems from the charming and charismatic supporting cast, who are all fully committed to the fun. Some of my favorite cast members include Mia Goth as the shy and kind Harriet Smith, Josh O'Connor as the douchey Mr. Elton, and Bill Nighy as Emma’s dad, Mr. Woodhouse. They all provide fun performances but it’s their dynamic with Taylor-Joy that really makes them effective, the strongest being the friendship she builds with Goth’s Harriet. I know this is coming from someone who has never been familiar with the source material, but for this being Autumn de Wilde’s directorial debut, she brilliantly brings the light-hearted and classy nature of this novel to life. Right from the opening scene, the film immerses you into the setting of the story and the wealthy yet quirky characters involved. She nails the perfect tone with her direction where she balances the drama of the story while keeping the comedy intact. There are a surprising amount of fun sight gags that are stylishly placed in the midst of the narrative, yet they remain tame and classy, especially through the dialogue adapted by screenwriter Eleanor Catton. It’s a PG-rated movie and it stays that way thoroughly, for everyone’s vocabulary is consistently (and at times overbearingly) sophisticated. But at the same time, I felt like I was in the large chambers with Emma and Harriet sipping some of that good drama tea.
Now, how did Focus Features not invest in making a New York Fashion Week show set on the costumes for this movie? That would’ve been the best marketing of all because the costume designs are A1. Costume designer Alexandra Byrne snapped and made the entire ensemble serve nothing but looks in each and every single scene. Everyone looks either dashingly dapper or stunningly gorgeous. That applies to both genders, by the way. The men’s fits would be gorgeous and the women would be dapper. I hope this gets nominations in the costume categories during the next awards season. That also applies to the production design. All of the sets and locations are petite and vibrantly colorful, adding emphasis to the light, vibrant, and witty tone the film sets. I just want to own the production book about designing the sets and costuming for this.
If you’re a fan of the source material and if this is your brand of comedy, Emma is a great adaptation to seek out. That said, it took a long while for me to warm up to this. The humor was overbearingly quirky and trying too hard at first. Some of the early jokes either fell flat or just got a weak chuckle out of me. Even for how sophisticated and dry it is, it didn’t really hit me early on. Maybe it’s my dumb American sensibilities. It doesn’t help that this movie is 124 minutes long. As much as this is a good adaptation on every front, the film is poorly paced. Some of the scenes are drawn out and overstay their welcome that, by the last quarter, I was ready for this to wrap up.Aforementioned, if you are a fan of this book this is a wildly colorful and vibrant adaptation with performances to match and it’s an enjoyable time nonetheless. Rating: 3.5/5 | 70%
