After the Thanksgiving Day disaster in which my beloved Dallas Cowboys lost to the Denver Broncos, putting me through at least four years of Bronco yahoo fans gloating, my blood pressure was very high. My choices at the movies were wither the musical Rent, which I loathed the musical itself, or the very British Pride and Prejudice. Since I had no desire to increase my blood pressure with Rent, I decided to go watch the hottie, borderline anorexic, Keira Knightley, and Pride and Prejudice. While I was mildly surprised that I was able to get into the movie, it did cure my blood pressure problems and almost put me to sleep.

The movie, which is based on a Jane Austin classic, is about five young women who are of modest income who are trying to find a husband to marry so they can lesson the burden on the father. Two of the girls, Elizabeth, played by Keira Knightly (Domino,) and Jane, played by Rosamund Pike (Die another Day,) fall for two men who are above them in class structure. The two men, Mr. Bingley, played by Simon Woods (lots of British TV movies,) and Mr. Darcy, played by Matthew MacFadyen (Maybe Baby) must fight their own emotions of the love they have for the women, and their family status, which is higher than their respective loves.

This film is very British, which is a good thing because the novel is also very British, so I here. Because of this the humor is very dry and sometimes I had to go looking for the joke if there was one. Many times I did not get the joke because this movie, as is the book, is very much written for women. The set up to the story, I'd say the ½ hour of the movie did not do much to keep me interested. The culture that requires women to be married off at an early age, has long since disappeared and for good reason. But that is what the 1st act is all about, the mother trying to hook up all of her daughters with the wealthy upper class. But once we got through that and the story turns to Mr. Darcy and Elizabeth, it becomes much more enjoyable.

I thought Keira Knightly did a decent job as Elizabeth with one exception. In the beginning, when she had scenes with Rosamund Pike, she talked way to fast and with her accent it was very had for me, and I would imagine every American English speaker in the movie theater, to understand what she said. But that didn't last very long and after that she was quite understandable. Matthew MacFadyen was the star of the show however. He gave a very compelling performance as Mr. Darcy. He was in complete control of his movements and he was very controlled for a difficult role. I would also like to give an honorable mention to Donald Sutherland, who did his very best British accent and was believable.

Even though I found the movie slow at times and calming, it wasn't bad either. I suspect that the few guys who were smart enough to weather the storm of the movie were well rewarded that night. It is definitely a chick flick with a few humorous moments for the guys and there are a lot worse movies out there to watch right now. So guys, grab your popcorn, make sure you have had your coffee, and let your girl get all hot and bothered by the movie, you will thank me later.

Brian - the Naked Gun