Miss Austen Regrets

(Okay so this clip of Tom Hiddleston is adorable)

Rating:
2.5 Stars

So Miss Austen Regrets was not one of my favorite movies. Being a huge Jane Austen fan, I can be a bit picky about my Austen stuff. But the reason why I chose to watch this is because...of the Avengers. Haha. I keep saying that Loki is my favorite superhero. But the thing is, I haven't seen Tom Hiddleston (Loki) in anything else. So I decided to do my research on the actor. As soon as I saw that he was in an Austen film, of course I picked that one first.

In this film, Jane Austen is already well known. She is trying to be a mentor to her younger niece, Fanny, who is trying to find a husband. She reads her Aunt's novels, so she has a bit of a skewed vision of romance (Don't all of us who read Jane Austen? I can agree with that. There's been a few times that I have thought to myself, 'Mr. Darcy has ruined my life.')
So she brings her Aunt back to Kent to meet a potential husband. This character is played by Tom Hiddleston. Mr. Plumtree or something.. So that's where he comes in. First thing he does is attack Jane for her poor portrayal of vicars in her novels. She definitely portrays them as foolish clowns. She defends herself, but you can see she's taken aback. Yet she tells Fanny that she likes him, and that if he asks she should probably say yes, as long as she's really in love with him. Then we see Tom's character and Fanny having problems. Tom doesn't believe in dancing on the Lord's day, and refuses to dance with Fanny. She gets upset and basically throws a hissy fit, till he caves and dances with her. This isn't a big deal, except we can see that the two might not be very compatible. Religion is apparently the most important thing in his life. Which is fine, except then he should be with someone who also feels the same way, and I think Fanny has other priorities. So Jane and her drink...a lot ...and spy on the boys as they are playing cards and doing guy stuff, after dinner. Lol. I guess that's guys stuff.
Except the vicar that Jane used to like, and was proposed to by in the past, catches them spying and he comes out and snaps at Jane for being such a bad role model to Fanny.
I think this is a point that I decided against the movie. Although Tom's character is good, and definitely shows that he can play both good and evil, it shows Jane has being really stuck up, snobbish, greedy, and irresponsible. I don't want a movie that makes me disrespect Austen. I feel like that's what this movie did.
So Tom's character does start to propose to fanny, but as he does they argue, and then when he's about to ask her, she smiles and kind of giggles, which he assumes is her laughing at him. He gets upset and decides to go take a walk. Fanny gets really mad at Jane for influencing her to be like that, as she realizes what her innocent smile might have just cost her.
Later Fanny visits Jane again and says that her and Tom's character had made amends, but now she feels that he is 'too doting' on her. She feels smothered by his affections, and no longer believes that she loves him. Now I feel SOO bad for the man. I've had that happen though, for me, so I understand. I have fallen head over heels way too quickly before, just to have that passion fade just as quickly. It's horrible, because you do feel bad when that happens, which is why I feel bad for him as well. But I think it proved that she's not ready to be married! Oh well.

So then Jane meets a doctor who she starts to kind of fall for, but then he starts flirting with Fanny, so Jane gets jealous and mad at her own niece. He ends up being kind of a dirtbag though.

In the end Jane dies, as she dies young in real life. Fanny does end up marrying a widower, who Jane approves her marrying. We never see Tom's character again.

So...eh. I'm not sure if I really suggest anyone watching this TV movie. It was alright. I'm not angry that I watched it...but I definitely do not feel the need to watch it again. Maybe just look at the screen shots of Tom...who I've decided to still like...Definitely the best part of this movie.

--LJ