Maybe I’m just a girl. And maybe I have an affinity with my girl, Jane. But the moment I heard that Shannon Hale’s Austenland was becoming a movie, I died. I treasure the copy that I have with Shannon Hale’s signature that says “Tally-ho”. (To be honest, if I could I would go to every one of her signings… She’s definitely an influence on my writing).
I tried to get tickets to the showing at Sundance and failed.
As soon as it came out, I scheduled my visit to the movies. I was not going to miss this.
The story is of Jane, a woman obsessed with Jane Austen and Mr. Darcy. She spends her life savings on a trip to a vacation adventure in “Austenland” where every woman gets to live out an Austen fantasy. Between a captain, a gentleman, and a stablehand, Jane has her pick of fine young men. Jane starts to forget that it’s just a fantasy and that they’re all actors. Will she find true love?
So, expectations were pretty low meaning that I didn’t expect this to be an amazing feat in filmmaking. But I was expecting it to make me laugh (which it did!) and make me love it (which it did!).
Austenland is a great movie for those Friday nights when I’m home alone. I love the love story, and I love the comedy. Jennifer Coolidge is hilarious (and according to IMDB ad-libbed most of her lines).
But there are still some amazing lines:
So… if you’re needing a good laugh, and your a girl, and you love Jane Austen…. Austenland should be in your collection. Just saying.
