On Friday night I had the chance to take part in a #Jane'sNightIn party (posted here), to celebrate the upcoming DVD release of AUSTENLAND, which hit stores TOMORROW! I HIGHLY recommend picking it up. Get it here.
This was the perfect girl's night in. Not only did we get to chat with Stephenie Meyer herself about the movie (see here), we had a laid back, fun filled night complete with junk food, and non stop laughs. This movie his HILARIOUS! I've not laughed this hard in a long time.
I'm a huge fan of both Shannon Hale and Stephenie Meyer, and I feel that together these two created one heck of a fabulous movie. It is so full of their trademark snark. If you've met either of the two, you'll know what I'm talking about. Actually, you don't even need to meet Shannon to get how funny she is. Her book, AUSTENLAND, is full of comedy, and the right amount of romance.
If you're a fan of the book, you'll love what they did with the movie. Sure they had to make some minor changes and leave a few things out, but what made it into the film was perfect! I loved the book. I felt the movie played very much like the book did. The great thing about this movie is you don't even need to have read the book to get the movie. While Jane Austen fans will love this movie, you don't even need to be an Austen fan to enjoy this. It's one of those well scripted, well casted movies and has all the makings for one those all around great movies.
Let's talk about this cast! Wow, what a stellar cast. While Jane Seymour and Keri Russell are great, Jennifer Coolidge stole the show for me. She is down right funny. That's not to say the rest of the cast isn't, as they all are. The dynamics of the cast shine through in this movie. While the women rocked the film, the men were fabulous too! The cast was literally perfect for this movie, and I often don't saw that with a movie. There's always someone in a movie that bugs me, but not this time around.
With a stellar cast, and fabulous one liners, Austenland is a movie worth having in your collection. To me it's one of those go to movie you'll want to watch for a pick me up, a good laugh, and when you want to watch an all around awesome movie.
On a personal note, I have to say this. THIS IS HOW you bring a book to life on the big screen! The subtle changes that were made worked well for the movie. What this movie got right that other big movies made from books fail at, is the fact they didn't rewrite the book to make the movie. Fans of the book will enjoy every element that stays true to the book, as well as the changes that have to be made in order to bring it to life on the big screen. Having an author be apart of the movie was a huge plus. Movie fans will enjoy the movie just as much as book fans. Quite frankly, I personally feel this is by far the best book to movie adaptation I've seen yet.
*My review is based solely on how I personally felt about the movie and is not something I asked to do previewing the DVD nor was I compensated in any way for my review.
Watch my interview with Stephenie Meyer to find out more about the cast, the script, and Jennifer Coolidge's lines. Check out the trailer below:
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I bought the movie on Apple TV and watched it Friday night. I love it, too, and I loved the book as well. :D Emmy the Great's music was fun in it, too.
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