Love & Friendship

Roadside Attractions | Release Date: May 13, 2016

6.8	USER SCORE Generally favorable reviews based on 118 Ratings

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NerdConsultantOct 17, 2016

This is a film that was drastically oversold by the critics. It’s a film where very little to nothing happens. Kate Beckinsale tries her best with it but ultimately it’s a flawed film. There is very little that happens in the film and whenThis is a film that was drastically oversold by the critics. It’s a film where very little to nothing happens. Kate Beckinsale tries her best with it but ultimately it’s a flawed film. There is very little that happens in the film and when things do start getting going, the film ends!!! Admittedly I am not the target audience for this film, I am not a fan of period dramas, especially the Jane Austen period dramas as I think they are often stuck in a formula that is tired and old and they don’t try to do anything contemporary with it, the trailer for this film alluded they were going to to that with this film, however, it doesn’t fully commit to that. The film is not really funny, not very interesting, I would skip it.… Expand

1 of 1 users found this helpful10

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DavidnbMay 30, 2016

Kate B, and Cloe S seemed to think that they were in a high school production of the Importance of Being Earnest. KB in particular was in way over her head, delivering each line as an epigrammatic bon mot, rather than an expression of herKate B, and Cloe S seemed to think that they were in a high school production of the Importance of Being Earnest. KB in particular was in way over her head, delivering each line as an epigrammatic bon mot, rather than an expression of her truth, some very bad acting here. she was in way over her head. Fortunately, the rest of the cast were fine actors, and managed to pull this out being a total disaster.

There is a reason that this is Jane Austen's least known work.… Expand

1 of 1 users found this helpful10

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KittyRoseranchMay 25, 2016

I am a Jane Austen fan so had to see this flick. Too bad so sad:
Beautiful costumes with lousy daily wig work. Redundant screenplay with flat scene work. Expositional character introductions felt dumbed down.
This movie falls so far belowI am a Jane Austen fan so had to see this flick. Too bad so sad:
Beautiful costumes with lousy daily wig work. Redundant screenplay with flat scene work. Expositional character introductions felt dumbed down.
This movie falls so far below what we've seen with Emma, Sense and Sensibility, Pride and Prejudice et al. The locations were promising but the cinematography disappoints.
Beckinsale's Lady Susan was not likeable or vulnerable in the least. For example: with Emma we know that she is manipulative and sometimes thoughtlessly wicked but we still root for her because Gwyneth Paltrow gave her a heart and a character arc.
I'm Glad we saw a matinee and didn't waste full price.… Expand

2 of 4 users found this helpful22

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swingMay 13, 2016

I guess you have to be a Jane A fan. I love period movies and literate ones as well. But Jane wasn't my cup of tea. Silly English humor. There was a dash of that. But there wasn't enough to make me love
this movie. I didn't relate to any ofI guess you have to be a Jane A fan. I love period movies and literate ones as well. But Jane wasn't my cup of tea. Silly English humor. There was a dash of that. But there wasn't enough to make me love
this movie. I didn't relate to any of the characters, empathize with them, or like them. It's very talky, and sometimes difficult to catch all the dialogue. It's too bad because with those critics four star ratings, I wanted to feel something. Come to think of it, I did. --the urge to leave the theater. The movie wasn't for me, though there was some cackling by those ladies in the movie theater who must have heard something that I didn't.… Expand

3 of 9 users found this helpful36

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GreatMartinMay 27, 2016

Most people know Jane Austen’s from either reading her books “Pride & Prejudice”, “Sense & Sensibility” or seeing the many TV or movie versions of those books and “Mansfield Park” and “Emma”. The movie I saw this afternoon “Love andMost people know Jane Austen’s from either reading her books “Pride & Prejudice”, “Sense & Sensibility” or seeing the many TV or movie versions of those books and “Mansfield Park” and “Emma”. The movie I saw this afternoon “Love and Friendship” is a novella, entitled “Lady Susan”, which she wrote but never finished and was finally published about 75 years later after her nephew took over the task to do just that.

In this film directed by Whit Stillman, who also wrote the screenplay based on the novella, there are a lot of smart, funny, sophisticated lines telling the story of the beautiful, widowed Lady Susan and her manipulations to get her daughter and herself married by any means. We meet many of their relatives, friends and eligible men with the latter being picked by Lady Susan for a role she has picked for each.

The cast, starring Kate Beckinsale as a beautiful, believable Lady Susan and including such actors as Morfydd Clark, Xavier Samuel, Emma Greenwall, Justin Edwards, Jemma Redgrave, Stephen Fry and James Fleet, among others, fit in with the Jane Austen English characters with only Chloe Sevigny standing out for the wrong reason. Tom Bennett provides many funny moments but he seems too silly for the film and story.

Stillman does a good job of directing and offers a first rate production though at time the actors talk to low and/or a bit hard to understand, swallowing up the words in their accents.

Though I would not recommend seeing “Love & Friendship” I do know it will send me to reading the novella “Lady Susan” so I can read the words of Jane Austen and see how, if, Whit Stillman added to the screenplay or undermined the original story.… Expand

0 of 1 users found this helpful01

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