It’s an especially fun movie from a director and cast who are clearly having a good time allowing themselves to let loose.

Clever and entertaining enough to recommend even to members of the 1%

In other words,this film is a surreal ride.

If you like to be scared, if you like to laugh, and if you like to learn a thing or two at the movies, this absolutely cannot be missed.

If you like the musical "Grease", and I don't, and if you think 19th century British upper crust culture was exciting and vibrant, and I don't, then you might like this movie. This is a view of young people, totally devoid of responsibility, trying to decide who to take to the prom. Wait! ... not the prom, the altar. We constantly see evidence of actual work: the meals are elegantly set, various outdoor venues for embroidery or archery are set, but we only see one servant in the entire movie. He stands perfectly still, out of focus in the background, and has no lines. When the "lower classes" actually move around, they immediately attack 2 defenseless ladies. I'm giving it 3 stars for sets and costumes. The actors mostly hit their marks and remember their lines. There is no passion whatsoever in anything they do. I say, lock them all in their elegantly appointed staterooms in the Titanic.

It's a wonderful adaptation, no doubt about it... but how awful Emma is... i don't know if it is the actress or just the character... i wanted to punch her in the face since minute one. I finished the movie even thou i rolled my eyes every 30 seconds or every time this stupid girl came in the screen... which was always. I loved clueless and even thou they made that "emma" very stupid she was lovely. Gwyneth or whatever her name is on the other hand just come as a stupid brat i hated her and hated the movie because of her. i just gave it a 5 for the effort of the cast, director and everyone involved in this movie and because i love Jane Austen.I know she always uses irony in her work, but how much of a full is this leading lady, she created all the problems and lack of solution. If she would be a real person she would have been this awful noise girl nobody likes except for boys who only wants to get into her pants. again... clueless they made it enjoyble but this lady has the charisma of a dead mouse

Emma (1996)I like Gwyneth Paltrow, and I love Jane Austen. (That sounds bad. Sorry Gwyneth.)And this is a great movie for its writing, and a stiff and imperfect movie for its acting. And for Austen fans (and fans is an understatement for some of them) this is almost awful movie. Awful if you love sublime writing and can't stand to see it so wooden. Paltrow is good. She's pretty. She's appropriately upright. But she insists on "delivering" her lines. She has them memorized, yes. But she doesn't inhabit the character. And Emma, the character, is one of the best of all literature, filled with sassy individualism and social blindness due to ordinary teenage arrogance. The material is there, and it's a great story (if you like early 19th Century melodramas bordering on soap opera of the highest level). So, it's not a terrible presentation of the movie, but it is, to be sure, a presentation. I honestly think (and don't tremble in rage here) that Alisha Silverstone in "Clueless" gets the spirit of Emma much closer. There is of course a gap of sensibilities here that I'm ignoring—a girl in 1995 (Silverstone) is no match for a girl in Austen's time. I'll leave that one vague.About "Emma" it's worth saying that the sets and costumes are so convincing you don't really think about them. Everything is brightly lit (which I suppose is a reasonable choice, though it flattens the film emotionally as opposed to, say, the Merchant-Ivory approach). The whole spectacle is spread before the camera lovingly, if a bit predictably. In the end it's Austen who wins. The writing, both in the specific dialog and in the general plot outline, are delicate and witty and insightful. Nothing sensational here, just drawing room observation at its best. Kudos for that much, and a reasonable translation to film. It's Austen who wins all those stars.

bitesizemoviereview dot blogspot dot com Though I have not read the Jane Austen novel, I thoroughly enjoyed this film adaption. For the most part, the acting was good and the sets were decent. Every now and then, a character would appear in a coat or a haircut that seemed out of place for the time period. Paltrow was well-suited for her role as Emma, a nosy but likable "matchmaker." The dances performed in the film seemed to be taken from A&E's Pride and Prejudice a year earlier--of course, the time period is relatively the same, but Emma would have been better off not using the exact same dance and musical score. Although the quality of this film is not top-notch, I enjoyed it for the witty acting and light romance plot.