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STUDIO: Miramax
MSRP: $29.99
RATED: PG-13
RUNNING TIME: 111 Minutes
SPECIAL FEATURES:
• Commentary by director/cowriter Gurinder Chadha and cowriter Paul Mayeda Berges
• Making of Featurette
• Deleted Scenes
• Extended Songs
• Ashanti’s Song
• A Conversation with actors Aishwarya Rai and Martin Henderson
The films of Bollywood – Indian cinema – are best known for their colorful, flashy musical numbers, filled with energy, pizzazz and sheer bizarre bravado. They’re so strange, so over the top and so fun that they’re great to watch even when the language barrier keeps you from having any idea of what’s going on. The thing is, you sort of get the feeling that what’s going on is very secondary to how it’s going on.
Gurinder Chadha, who directed the smash Bend it Like Beckham, tries to weld some of that Bollywood magic onto a new version of Jane Austen’s classic Pride & Prejudice. It’s a film that’s frustrating, as it works sometimes and at other times is completely torpedoed by poor casting and stodgy direction.
Next season on Lost, Sayid discovers what’s in the hatch: an MC Hammer convention.
The Flick
Bride & Prejudice sticks pretty close to Austen’s story – a complicated back and forth of manners and mores colliding. This new version takes the English story and internationalizes it – the Bennetts, a family with five daughters of marrying age, become the Bakshis, a middle class family in India. Mr. Darcy becomes an American.
But the film loses right from the start because of its Darcy. The beauty of Darcy in Austen’s original – and the best adaptations – is that while he seems to be a snotty rich boy in the beginning, he has some charm, some charisma. Later in the story, as we learn that he’s just confused and bungling his courtship, we can feel bad for him and like him even more. Chadha has made a huge mistake in casting Martin Henderson, an actor who is so boring, so anonymous that your eyes slip right off him. You didn’t mind his lack of presence in Torque since he wasn’t supposed to be more interesting than the insane hijinks; in The Ring he has fourth billing under Samara. But in Bride & Prejudice he’s the male lead, so it’s a problem that he’s a man shaped void in whatever scene he’s appearing in. Without a natural likeability, Henderson’s Darcy is a prig, a bore.
It gets worse for Henderson! He’s acting against one of the most beautiful and magnetic women working on film today, the astonishing Aishwarya Rai. She makes a perfect Elizabeth – here Lalitha. Rai is proud and independent, unwilling to take part in her mother’s marriage frenzy. Male members (no pun intended) of the audience will be glad to know that not only is Rai a fine actress, she’s possibly one of the most beautiful women who has ever lived. Getting to look at Rai makes many of the more boring scenes much more tolerable.
Sadly there are many boring scenes. The story is complicated and Chindha isn’t deft enough to keep things moving. What’s worse is that she can’t breathe life into almost any of the musical numbers. There are scenes that should be popping off the screen are static. The songs are pretty good, but they’re dragged down too often by dull staging.
"Sit down! Relax! You still get to make a Saving Throw Against Turn to Stone!"
There is the making of a good film here. The concept of transposing Austen’s tale to Bollywood is a strong one. Rai is a great leading lady. And for fans of Lost, Sayid has a song and dance number right off the bat. But in the end Bride & Prejudice is missing the spicy curry that could have made it special.
6 out of 10
The Look
Bride & Prejudice is presented in a lovely widescreen. The colors are crisp and sharp, befitting a film about so colorful a culture. The picture itself is clean and full of depth. A very nice transfer indeed.
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9 out of 10
The Noise
The surround sound mix on Bride & Prejudice is fantastic. It’s a musical, so sound is key here, and the disc doesn’t disappoint. The music is loud and boisterous, taking advantage of the entire soundspace. The rear speakers get a serious workout throughout the film, especially in scenes with background noise, like the rave or the marketplace.
9.4 out of 10
The Goodies
Miramax has not scrimped on the special features here, and it’s nice to see a non-Special Edition getting so much love. I’m tired of seeing films marketed as Special Editions and having shit for features (The Jerk, I’m looking at you). Here we get a director commentary, which runs to the dry side of things and also features co-writer Paul Mayade Berges.
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We also get a number of deleted scenes, none of which really excite the imagination, and there are a couple of production documentaries. There’s a longer making of feature and two shorter features that focus on the two stars. I tried to watch the one about Martin Henderson, but my soul was being sucked out by him at about the two minute mark and I had to turn it off.
8.7 out of 10
The Artwork
The cover of the DVD is no great piece of art, but it suffices. Our two leads are there, and the rest of the cover is given over to an explosion of brightly colored confetti and the distinctive looks of the lover’s home locales.
8 out of 10
Overall: 7.4 out of 10