Review of Becoming Jane

Anne Hathaway's, performance, and her English pronunciation, was immaculate in this film. She is, however, much too pretty to be at all believable in the role. (Indeed, I seem to recall reading that her sister Cassandra was prettier than Jane, and this was blatantly reversed in the film casting!) In the end, apart from the excellent cameo performances from Ian Richardson, Maggie Smith, and to a lesser extent Julie Walters and James Cromwell, this was little more than a vehicle for Miss Hathaway and the beautiful scenery and interior sequences, and the continued clumsy direct insertion of fragments of Pride and Prejudice became increasingly tiresome....and finally, surely James McAvoy, despite a superb performance otherwise, could have attempted at least the hint of an Irish accent, rather than Scottish! A very disappointing film.