I See What You Did There..."Scents And Sensibility"

Scents and Sensibility (2011)

PG

Starring Ashley Williams, Marla Sokoloff, Nick Zano, Brad Johnson,

Directed by Brian Brough

The Story:

Elinor (Williams) and Marianne (Sokoloff) Dashwood's world upends when their father goes to jail and they must get real jobs to make ends meet and take care of their family.  Elinor ends up as a janitor and Marianne changes her last name to land a job as a copy editor.  While they try and make enough, naturally they run across a couple of men (Zano and Johnson) who are both irritating and attractive, at the same time. However, when Marianne's scented lotions that she makes on the side look to be profitable and get the girls out of debt, evil forces conspire to rob them of their chance to regain their status as upstanding citizens. Whatever will the girls do?

This is what you get when you take 2 parts Jane Austen and one part Lifetime channel and shake vigorously.

That said, it's not bad.  There are numerous Sense and Sensibility adaptations out there for your perusal.

This one is a fun re-imagining of the story, set in the modern day

It looks like a TV movie and feels like one, but that's fine.

Sometimes a good TV movie is exactly what you can be in the mood for.

Enough romance, drama and comedy to make it a light, fun affair without holding strict to the coattails of Jane Austen.

Available to stream instantly on Netflix as of this writing.

Final Grade: C+

Rewatchability/Purchase Factor: No need to buy it, but cute and harmless enough, could watch it again for background noise when you don't need to totally concentrate on a film.

You've Got To Be Seriously Committed To Go To "Austenland"

Austenland (2013)

Rated PG-13

Starring Keri Russell, JJ Field, Bret McKenzie, Jennifer Coolidge, Georgia King, Jane Seymour

Written and Directed by Jerusha Hess

The Story:

Jane Hayes (Russell) is obsessed with Pride & Prejudice, and her romantic life is forever ruined because of Darcy.  Spending her entire savings, she goes on a trip to England where there is a resort run to make you feel like you are living in the time-period that Austen wrote about.  However, it is very real and soon the lines between what is real and what is fake are blurred for Jane as she is torn between two gentlemen (Field & McKenzie) and how she really feels about them.

Poor Jane cannot afford to be much more than a poor girl on her trip, but she is befriended by Ms. Charming (Coolidge) who has enough money to go around and really likes Jane.

Austenland is a clever idea, and I am surprised that there isn't something like this in existence.

And if there is something like this, I wouldn't be surprised in the least.

The costumes and scenery are top-notch, the movie just looks gorgeous.

Everyone does fine in the movie, but this one never really grabbed me enough to lock in and connect with anyone.

It was a good background movie, one that you can hear what is going on, and you're fine if you're looking down and checking your email or updating your Facebook status.

You aren't going to miss anything.

The same could be said if you never watch it at all.

: )

Final Grade: C

Rewatchability/Purchase Factor: Cute, but once was fine.  The more you love Austen or Pride and Prejudice, your mileage could vary.