Becoming Jane
Miramax Films | Release Date: August 3, 2007 CRITIC SCORE DISTRIBUTION
55
METASCORE
Mixed or average reviews based on 34 Critic Reviews
Positive:
17
Mixed:
17
Negative:
0
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Critic Reviews

Critic scorePublicationBy date
88
USA TodayClaudia Puig
If one were to fuse the literary sensibility of Jane Austen with the fanciful imaginative license of "Shakespeare in Love," what would emerge would likely be the charming tale Becoming Jane. Read full review
80
VarietyDerek Elley
An ersatz "Pride and Prejudice" in all but name, Becoming Jane is a finely tooled Brit-lit costumer that, like Anne Hathaway's flawless accent as the young Austen, lacks only that final convincing 5%. Read full review
75
Entertainment WeeklyOwen Gleiberman
Becoming Jane has a burnished feminine sadness, and the director, Julian Jarrold, gives it a creamy-dark visual flow. Read full review
75
New York PostKyle Smith
Instead of trying to make Austen's life entertaining by pretending it was just like her work - as in the dull recent French movie "Molière" - Becoming Jane has a more astute appreciation of how Austen, or any fiction writer, works. There's a bit of stealing from life, lots of exaggeration, some wish fulfillment, mix-and-match character assembly. Read full review
75
Chicago Sun-TimesRoger Ebert
The way all of this plays out is acted warmly by the principals, and Eigil Bryld's photography (of Ireland) makes England look breathtakingly green and inviting. The director, Julian Jarrold ("Kinky Boots" and the TV version of "White Teeth") is comfortable with the material, and it is comfortable with him. Read full review
75
Boston GlobeTy Burr
Anne Hathaway's Jane is headstrong and clever, balanced and true. Read full review
75
PremiereDeborah Day
Hathaway's proven charms work magic here. Read full review
70
Film ThreatStina Chyn
Hathaway's exuberance and dramatic range are fitting for this portrayal of the celebrated literary figure. Read full review
67
Christian Science MonitorPeter Rainer
It's movie-making as match-making. Read full review
67
Seattle Post-IntelligencerWilliam Arnold
It's an enjoyable period romance. Yet, ultimately, the unique magic of Austen so beautifully caught in 1996's "Emma" is missing. Read full review
67
Portland OregonianMarc Mohan
But if the notion that Austen was more reactive than creative in her writing is troubling, so is the idea that she needed Lefroy to make her into a great writer. "Experience is vital," he tells her. We should be glad this guy never got his paws on Emily Dickinson. Read full review
63
ReelViewsJames Berardinelli
There are enough similarities between the movie and "Pride and Prejudice" that one could be forgiven thinking this screenplay is Austen lite. Read full review
63
TV Guide MagazineMaitland McDonagh
Jane Austen deserves better than to be subordinated to her own creation, the spirited Lizzy Bennet. Read full review
63
New York Daily NewsElizabeth Weitzman
We can't quite shake the feeling we've seen this all done before, and better. Read full review
63
Miami HeraldConnie Ogle
Where the film goes wrong is in its attempts to cling too firmly to "Pride and Prejudice." Read full review
63
Philadelphia InquirerSteven Rea
With so many good Austen adaptations out there (the Keira Knightley Pride & Prejudice, the Colin Firth Pride and Prejudice, Emma Thompson and Ang Lee's splendid Sense and Sensibility), Becoming Jane seems a bit flimsy by comparison. Read full review
63
Charlotte ObserverLawrence Toppman
Movies about artists play fast and loose with truth, but this is a hoot. Read full review
60
Village VoiceElla Taylor
Becoming Jane turns into a presentable Harlequin romance, with hurdle after hurdle succeeded by an eleventh-hour turnaround. Read full review
60
The New YorkerAnthony Lane
Once you admit that the Jane Austen depicted onscreen bears scant relation to any person named Jane Austen, living or dead, the film fulfills its purpose. Read full review
60
NewsweekDavid Ansen
As the proud, independent young author, Hathaway is both subdued and alluring--it's her most mature performance. The movie goes down easy, but there's a thin line here: is this an homage or a parasite? Read full review
50
New York Magazine (Vulture)David Edelstein
A bearable period chick flick with a self-congratulatory “realistic” conceit. Read full review
50
Chicago TribuneTasha Robinson
The solid cast and honest Austen scholarship make Becoming Jane fitfully entertaining. But it's hard for the film to escape the shadow of Austen's superior talent when it filches so much from her books. Read full review
50
The A.V. ClubScott Tobias
The film tries to squeeze Austen into one of her novels, and the peg doesn't fit. Read full review
50
Washington PostStephen Hunter
So I expect the Janeites who love the author will feel themselves ill-served by the film, which appears to have even less basis in fact than "Shakespeare in Love." As for the rest of us, the question is simpler: Is it worth the eight bucks? Read full review
50
The Globe and Mail (Toronto)Liam Lacey
Feels like one of those misguided high-school-teacher exercises in making literary history sound contemporary. Read full review
50
The New York TimesStephen Holden
The screenplay’s pseudo-Austen tone is so consistent that its lapses into modern romance-novel fantasy threaten to derail the film. Read full review
50
Chicago ReaderJ.R. Jones
This never rises above a date movie, but it's functionally literate. Read full review
50
Baltimore SunMichael Sragow
Becoming Jane isn't just a soap opera - it's a soft-soap opera. Read full review
50
San Francisco ChronicleMick LaSalle
Its weaknesses are clumsy plotting and a less-than-satisfying ending. Read full review
50
TimeRichard Schickel
I'll stipulate that in Austen's time spinsterhood was a fate to be strenuously avoided. And being a woman writer was by no means an easy path either. Yet, she embraced it, and the immortal results more than justify a hard choice this film never really explores. Read full review
50
Wall Street JournalJoanne Kaufman
Austen comes off here more as stenographer than writer. Worse, the movie has Tom Lefroy as her condescending guide. Read full review
40
Los Angeles TimesCarina Chocano
It's neither very original nor very convincing. "Shakespeare in Love" did something similar by casting its writer protagonist as the hero of a story he himself might have written, but Becoming Jane lacks that movie's wit and playfulness. Read full review
40
SalonStephanie Zacharek
Becoming Jane would have been more honest if it had been called "No Sex in the Country." Read full review
40
Austin ChronicleToddy Burton
In fictionalizing the story of Austen, the filmmakers didn’t go far enough. Becoming Jane attempts to please the purists and the dreamers, but only results in disappointing both. Read full review
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