Becoming Jane

USA Today Claudia Puig

If one were to fuse the literary sensibility of Jane Austen with the fanciful imaginative license of "Shakespeare in Love," what would emerge would likely be the charming tale Becoming Jane.

Variety Derek Elley

An ersatz "Pride and Prejudice" in all but name, Becoming Jane is a finely tooled Brit-lit costumer that, like Anne Hathaway's flawless accent as the young Austen, lacks only that final convincing 5%.

Entertainment Weekly Owen Gleiberman

Becoming Jane has a burnished feminine sadness, and the director, Julian Jarrold, gives it a creamy-dark visual flow.

New York Post Kyle Smith

Instead of trying to make Austen's life entertaining by pretending it was just like her work - as in the dull recent French movie "Molière" - Becoming Jane has a more astute appreciation of how Austen, or any fiction writer, works. There's a bit of stealing from life, lots of exaggeration, some wish fulfillment, mix-and-match character assembly.

Boston Globe Ty Burr

Anne Hathaway's Jane is headstrong and clever, balanced and true.

Chicago Sun-Times Roger Ebert

The way all of this plays out is acted warmly by the principals, and Eigil Bryld's photography (of Ireland) makes England look breathtakingly green and inviting. The director, Julian Jarrold ("Kinky Boots" and the TV version of "White Teeth") is comfortable with the material, and it is comfortable with him.

Premiere Deborah Day

Hathaway's proven charms work magic here.

Film Threat Stina Chyn

Hathaway's exuberance and dramatic range are fitting for this portrayal of the celebrated literary figure.

Portland Oregonian Marc Mohan

But if the notion that Austen was more reactive than creative in her writing is troubling, so is the idea that she needed Lefroy to make her into a great writer. "Experience is vital," he tells her. We should be glad this guy never got his paws on Emily Dickinson.

Seattle Post-Intelligencer William Arnold

It's an enjoyable period romance. Yet, ultimately, the unique magic of Austen so beautifully caught in 1996's "Emma" is missing.

Christian Science Monitor Peter Rainer

It's movie-making as match-making.

ReelViews James Berardinelli

There are enough similarities between the movie and "Pride and Prejudice" that one could be forgiven thinking this screenplay is Austen lite.

TV Guide Maitland McDonagh

Jane Austen deserves better than to be subordinated to her own creation, the spirited Lizzy Bennet.

New York Daily News Elizabeth Weitzman

We can't quite shake the feeling we've seen this all done before, and better.

Miami Herald Connie Ogle

Where the film goes wrong is in its attempts to cling too firmly to "Pride and Prejudice."

Philadelphia Inquirer Steven Rea

With so many good Austen adaptations out there (the Keira Knightley Pride & Prejudice, the Colin Firth Pride and Prejudice, Emma Thompson and Ang Lee's splendid Sense and Sensibility), Becoming Jane seems a bit flimsy by comparison.

Charlotte Observer Lawrence Toppman

Movies about artists play fast and loose with truth, but this is a hoot.

The New Yorker Anthony Lane

Once you admit that the Jane Austen depicted onscreen bears scant relation to any person named Jane Austen, living or dead, the film fulfills its purpose.

Newsweek David Ansen

As the proud, independent young author, Hathaway is both subdued and alluring--it's her most mature performance. The movie goes down easy, but there's a thin line here: is this an homage or a parasite?

Village Voice Ella Taylor

Becoming Jane turns into a presentable Harlequin romance, with hurdle after hurdle succeeded by an eleventh-hour turnaround.

New York Magazine David Edelstein

A bearable period chick flick with a self-congratulatory “realistic” conceit.

Washington Post Stephen Hunter

So I expect the Janeites who love the author will feel themselves ill-served by the film, which appears to have even less basis in fact than "Shakespeare in Love." As for the rest of us, the question is simpler: Is it worth the eight bucks?

Chicago Tribune Tasha Robinson

The solid cast and honest Austen scholarship make Becoming Jane fitfully entertaining. But it's hard for the film to escape the shadow of Austen's superior talent when it filches so much from her books.

The Onion (A.V. Club) Scott Tobias

The film tries to squeeze Austen into one of her novels, and the peg doesn't fit.

The New York Times Stephen Holden

The screenplay’s pseudo-Austen tone is so consistent that its lapses into modern romance-novel fantasy threaten to derail the film.

Chicago Reader J.R. Jones

This never rises above a date movie, but it's functionally literate.

The Globe and Mail (Toronto) Liam Lacey

Feels like one of those misguided high-school-teacher exercises in making literary history sound contemporary.

Time Richard Schickel

I'll stipulate that in Austen's time spinsterhood was a fate to be strenuously avoided. And being a woman writer was by no means an easy path either. Yet, she embraced it, and the immortal results more than justify a hard choice this film never really explores.

San Francisco Chronicle Mick LaSalle

Its weaknesses are clumsy plotting and a less-than-satisfying ending.

Wall Street Journal Joanne Kaufman

Austen comes off here more as stenographer than writer. Worse, the movie has Tom Lefroy as her condescending guide.

Baltimore Sun Michael Sragow

Becoming Jane isn't just a soap opera - it's a soft-soap opera.

Austin Chronicle Toddy Burton

In fictionalizing the story of Austen, the filmmakers didn’t go far enough. Becoming Jane attempts to please the purists and the dreamers, but only results in disappointing both.

Salon.com Stephanie Zacharek

Becoming Jane would have been more honest if it had been called "No Sex in the Country."

Los Angeles Times Carina Chocano

It's neither very original nor very convincing. "Shakespeare in Love" did something similar by casting its writer protagonist as the hero of a story he himself might have written, but Becoming Jane lacks that movie's wit and playfulness.