Emma Is Not Quite the Expert Matchmaker She Fancies Herself to Be

As much as I enjoy Sense and Sensibility and Pride and Prejudice, my Jane Austen immersion remains limited. I had intended to read Emma before I watched any of the adaptations, but when the Gwyneth Paltrow version of this story about a well-intentioned but disastrously clueless matchmaker came up on Netflix, my curiosity got the better of me. I found this film, adapted and directed by Douglas McGrath, just as funny and romantic as I have come to expect Austen to be.

Paltrow is Emma Woodhouse, a young woman who lives with her cantankerous father (Denys Hawthorne), a man she loves dearly. With his resources, she is at leisure to enjoy whatever pursuits she desires, and she has no desire to change her status as a single woman. Indeed, she feels perfectly content, particularly when Mr. Knightley (Jeremy Northam), an old family friend, is around for her to trade verbal barbs with. However, Emma does not believe that the life of a spinster is desirable for most women, and after she has a hand in bringing together a happy couple, she decides to devote her attention to matchmaking. Unfortunately, Emma’s instincts tend to be far off-base, and her help is more of a hindrance and a set-up for heartbreak.

Her main efforts are concentrated upon her new friend Harriet Smith (Toni Collette), who truly does not need any help in this department. Harriet already has a blossoming friendship with a man who seems an ideal match for her, but Emma disapproves, considering him beneath her station and not wanting to be cheated out of the chance to be the vehicle for someone’s true happiness. The man Emma has in mind for Harriet is Mr. Elton (Alan Cumming), a preacher with a bubbly personality. Harriet’s insecurities are such that she allows Emma to influence her, but what’s obvious to everyone else is the fact that Mr. Elton is interested not in Harriet but in Emma herself.

Paltrow and Collette play well off of each other, with the former all poise, charm and maddening confidence and the latter a bundle of anxieties and uncertainties. Harriet is a sweet, rather dim-witted woman with a crippling lack of self-confidence who puts too much stock in the advice of Emma, who lavishes far more attention upon her than she is used to. Emma, meanwhile, is likable, clearly wanting the best for Harriet, but her meddlesome tactics are often exasperating, as is her blindness to the disconnect between her perceptions and reality.

Northam is appealing as Knightley, who is so adept at matching wits with Emma and is nearly the only person in her life willing to take her to task for her insensitivities. Cumming brings an affable, rather silly demeanor to Mr. Elton, while Ewan McGregor brings gregarious charm to the role of Frank Churchill, who turns up midway through the movie and immediately captures Emma’s attention. Probably the performance that amuses me most is Sophie Thompson as Miss Bates, a spinster with little money and a nervous habit of prattling endlessly and going into fits of high-pitched giggles. How Emma relates to this fellow singleton becomes an important element in the story.

Not having read the book yet, I am spared the task of drawing comparisons and bemoaning all of the intricate subplots that no doubt had to be left out. Simply on its own merits, I found this 1996 version of Emma to be a funny, well-acted, visually satisfying film about the dangers of playing around with other people’s hearts.

This Is the Story of a Boy...

While reviewing Music and Lyrics yesterday, I noted that I was impressed by Hugh Grant's singing voice, having never heard it before. Upon reflection, it occurs to me that this is not entirely true. I did hear Grant sing in the Weitz brothers' 2002 film About a Boy, based on Nick Hornsby's novel. In fact, it was probably my favorite part of the movie. So my apologies on that score. How could I forget such a voice? Perhaps it has something to do with the fact that in that film, his vocal performance was remarkable for entirely different reasons...

Music does play an important role in the life of Will (Grant) as it allows him to keep up an opulent, vacuous lifestyle. He's not even living off his own past accomplishments; rather, all his money comes from the royalties earned by his father's one smash hit, an irritating ditty by the name of Santa's Super Sleigh.

His immaturity is apparent throughout the movie, and he's not very well suited to the role of mentor, yet as a result of his inappropriate participation in a group for single parents, he falls into that position with 12-year-old Marcus (Nicholas Hoult), a sensitive, intelligent lad who suffers from rejection by his peers and an inability to solve the problems of his chronically depressed mother (Toni Colette), to whom he is extremely close. Yet it's altogether likely that Marcus is more teacher than student in this relationship, helping Will to foster a real relationship with and experience genuine concern for a fellow human being.

Will is not an especially likable fellow, what with his self-centered approach to life, though he becomes more sympathetic by the end of the movie, and even as we tut-tut over his indiscretions, it's hard to look on him too harshly. Because this is Hugh Grant, after all, and he can't seem to hide his charm under a basket for long. His voice-overs are sometimes insightful and usually funny, enhancing a film marked by good dialogue.

The movie is a little off-color at times, eliciting a startled inquiry from my dad at one point, when he passed through the living room during a scene whose contents were particularly dubious. If you can abide some profanity, however, About a Boy is ultimately a touching film about two people who don't realize how lonely they are coming together and becoming better for it.

Riveting

When I first saw the previews for The Sixth Sense, it freaked me out. The commercials made it look like a terrifying horror flick, and I was sure that I couldn't handle it. However, I went to the movies one night with one of my more courageous peers, and I decided to give the movie a shot. After all, it was only PG-13, and it starred a kid. How bad could it be? I figured I'd suffer through it.

I needn't have worried. After a couple of minutes, I was drawn into Haley's riveting performance and Bruce's low-key display of sensitivity. The story was simple incredible, and the characters, mainly Cole Sear, his mom, and Dr. Malcolm Crowe, displayed an impressive depth. Cole was especially fascinating. The first time we hear him speak, he is huddling in a church with his toy soldiers murmuring a Latin prayer. Strange things seem to happen around him, and he tells Dr. Crowe that what he wants more than anything is "not to be scared anymore."

Dr. Crowe is chilled by the similarity between Cole and Vincent, a child who he misdiagnosed several years before. Vincent broke into Dr. Crowe's house one day and shot him before killing himself, and the doctor hasn't been the same since. He works feverishly to figure out where he went wrong with Vincent and help Cole. He becomes so engrossed in Cole's case that he never has time to talk to his wife anymore.

Meanwhile, Cole suffers in silence as he is haunted by visions of dead people. When he breaks the secret to Dr. Crowe -- after a frightening incident which landed him in the hospital -- Malcolm assumes that Cole has been hallucinating. But then how to explain those scratches all over the boy's body? When we see through Cole's eyes, we are presented with a gruesome line of ghosts who have died horribly. Be prepared for a couple jumps, maybe a shriek or two.

I came to "The Sixth Sense" expecting a horror movie, and I left feeling what was almost a spiritual experience. Aside from some gory graphics, this movie is a touching drama that will give you a lot to think about. When you leave the theater, you may thin twice about whether you believe in ghosts. I was especially touched by the fact that in the end, Cole simply had to listen to the ghosts and help them. They were just normal people who had died with unresolved issues.

Then there was the tender relationship between Cole and his mother, and her pain over the not-so-recent loss of her mother. Watch for Cole's comment at the dinner table: "Sometimes you miss something, and you think it's lost, but it really just got moved." While his mother doesn't catch his meaning at the time, it is one of the most meaningful lines in the whole movie.

Haley is brilliant in this movie, creating an enduring character more convincingly than many adults could. He deserves an Oscar for that performance. Toni Colette and Bruce Willis are also remarkable. Come to the movie prepared to laugh, to scream, and to cry. And if the end doesn't twist your head around 180 degrees, I don't know what will.