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Stars indicate the most critically-acclaimed movies.

Pride & Prejudice
Focus Features


8.8

based on 37 reviews
Read critic reviews
How did we calculate this?

based on 388 votes
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FILM:

Atonement

MPAA RATING: PG for some mild thematic element

Starring Keira Knightley, Matthew MacFadyen, Rosamund Pike, Jena Malone, Donald Sutherland, Brenda Blethyn, Simon Woods, and Judi Dench

Keira Knightly stars as Elizabeth Bennet in this classic tale of love and misunderstanding which unfolds in class-conscious England near the close of the 18th century. (Focus Features)

GENRE(S):	Drama \| Foreign \| Romance
WRITTEN BY:	Deborah Moggach Jane Austen (novel)
DIRECTED BY:	Joe Wright
RELEASE DATE:	DVD: February 28, 2006 Video: February 28, 2006 Theatrical: November 11, 2005
RUNNING TIME:	127 minutes, Color
ORIGIN:	UK

All critic scores are converted to a 100-point scale. If a critic does not indicate a score, we assign a score based on the general impression given by the text of the review. Learn more...

100

Entertainment Weekly Owen Gleiberman

Keira Knightley, in a witty, vibrant, altogether superb performance, plays Lizzie's sparky, questing nature as a matter of the deepest personal sacrifice.

100

Christian Science Monitor Peter Rainer

In the end, the finest achievement of Wright's movie is that it fully captures what Martin Amis, writing on Pride and Prejudice, said of Austen: "Money is a vital substance in her world; the moment you enter it you feel the frank horror of moneylessness, as intense as the tacit horror of spinsterhood." All that, and a great love story, too.

100

Chicago Sun-Times Roger Ebert

The movie is well cast from top to bottom; like many British films, it benefits from the genius of its supporting players.

100

USA Today Claudia Puig

This Pride & Prejudice is a stellar adaptation, bewitching the viewer completely and incandescently with an exquisite blend of emotion and wit.

100

TV Guide Maitland McDonagh

The appealing Knightley goes in a promising young actress and comes out a star, but the faultless cast of veterans and fresh-faced newcomers imbues every character with flawed and immensely appealing humanity.

100

Boston Globe Wesley Morris

Jane Austen's novel has been rejiggered into a jaunty romantic comedy that leaves us as incandescently happy as its characters.

100

Salon.com Stephanie Zacharek

Blissful, blazingly intelligent adaptation.

100

San Francisco Chronicle Ruthe Stein

Deliriously charming.

Slate David Edelstein

This Pride & Prejudice (ampersand and all) a joy to behold.

Newsweek David Ansen

Indoors, it's Jane Austen. Outdoors, this red-blooded, exuberantly romantic version of Pride and Prejudice plays more like Emily Brontë. Purists may object, but most will find this love story irresistible.

Los Angeles Times Carina Chocano

With outstanding performances, including a turn by Judi Dench as the evil Lady Catherine de Bourg, Pride & Prejudice is a joy from start to finish.

The New York Times Stephen Holden

Gathers you up on its white horse and gallops off into the sunset. Along the way, it serves a continuing banquet of high-end comfort food perfectly cooked and seasoned to Anglophilic tastes.

Dallas Observer Robert Wilonsky

There's something more REAL about this version, more human, more lived-in; though their words may have been penned 200 years ago, when Austen was a young woman writing about her idealized self, this cast and crew nudge the material into the now.

Austin Chronicle Steve Davis

This fresh adaptation shakes the dust off Jane Austen's early 19th-century novel of manners and gives it a good airing out. The result is a witty and lovesick skirmish of the sexes that exceeds all expectations.

New York Daily News Jami Bernard

Seeing the splendid new version of Pride & Prejudice can be hazardous to your health: There's a very real danger of swooning.

Chicago Tribune Michael Phillips

At the end, director Wright wraps the whole thing up with a fairy-tale coda more Shakespearean than Austen-tine. Yet it all works.

ReelViews James Berardinelli

Of Austen's novels, none is more beloved than this one, so it's good to see it once again brought to the screen with the pride which it deserves.

Philadelphia Inquirer Carrie Rickey

Whatever number it is chronologically on the P&P parade, Wright's film ranks first in verve. Quite simply, it is the essential P&P.

Seattle Post-Intelligencer Debera Carlton Harrell

It is historically evocative, visually transporting and an exuberant romantic comedy that adheres to its source while spinning its own artful energy.

Wall Street Journal Joe Morgenstern

Still, the cynosure of all eyes is honest, articulate Elizabeth, her own woman in an era when women belonged to men, and at the same time full of love. Lizzie is the best, and Keira Knightley does right by her.

Washington Post Stephen Hunter

Lord God, can she take control of a scene, dominate a movie, project to the last seat, radiate power and personality unto the rafters. It's a great performance. I love the way Knightley's eyes light with furious intelligence when she cuts the pompous Darcy a new something or other.

The Onion (A.V. Club) Keith Phipps

Most importantly, the director, script, and cast (rounded out by Judi Dench and well-placed imports Donald Sutherland and Jena Malone) all recognize that Austen is about much more than pretty costumes and knowing looks.

Variety Derek Elley

A movie for the age, and a keeper for the ages, Pride & Prejudice brings Jane Austen's best-loved novel to vivid, widescreen life, as well as making an undisputed star of 20-year-old Keira Knightley.

Empire Angie Errigo

Not as divine as Ang Lee's "Sense and Sensibility," but engagingly comparable to the Gwyneth Paltrow-starring Emma and vastly superior to Mansfield Park.

Rolling Stone Peter Travers

Romantic yearning hasn't looked this sexy onscreen in years.

Miami Herald Connie Ogle

This Pride & Prejudice isn't minutely faithful to the book -- and for good reason -- but it is authentic where it counts: to the confused, wounded, eager hearts of its lovers.

New York Post Kyle Smith

This weekend, forget "Jarhead" - two hours of guys playing grab-ass in the shower and no chicks. If you're lucky, you can con your girlfriend into seeing Pride & Prejudice.

The New Republic Stanley Kauffmann

The present film-makers have retained the essences of the plot and characters but have moved the ambience toward the next stylistic era, romanticism.

Chicago Reader J.R. Jones

The movie flames to life whenever Donald Sutherland moves into frame as the young ladies' relaxed, humorous, and magnificently rueful father.

New York Magazine Ken Tucker

If only Knightley had a co-star equal to her here: The 1995 edition of Colin Firth, come to think of it, would have been perfect.

Village Voice Jessica Winter

Director Joe Wright coordinates a delightfully cohesive acting ensemble.

Portland Oregonian Shawn Levy

The problem here is we never get much more than the pretty, the quaint and the comfortingly familiar. There's a place for such stuff in the world, yes, but that doesn't make it art.

Baltimore Sun Michael Sragow

Director Joe Wright's new movie version of Pride and Prejudice is more Gene Kelly than Fred Astaire: more earthy and athletic than balletic.

The Globe and Mail (Toronto) Liam Lacey

This is Austen as chick-lit, not too deep, but with some integrity and the worthy goal of reaching a younger audience by offering a starch-free version of the story.

Charlotte Observer Lawrence Toppman

Handsome and competently acted and prettily shot and all the other things critics say when what they really want to scream is "Aaaaaaaargh! No more Jane Austen adaptations, ESPECIALLY not Pride and Prejudice.

Premiere Glenn Kenny

The moviemakers are accomplished enough to make something coherent out of this tonal mishmash, but I was left with a "was this trip really necessary" feeling for all that.

The Hollywood Reporter Ray Bennett

Turns Jane Austen's nimble satire into a lumbering gothic romance.

The average user rating for this movie is 8.8 (out of 10) based on 388 User Votes
Note: User votes are NOT included in the Metascore calculation.

Lizzy B gave it a1:
This adaptation only deals for entertaining the viewer, but misquots Jane Austen's brilliant novel. The best adaptation I've seen was the BBC-version of 1995. The characters are very true to the original, just like all the dialogues and properties.

Meg D gave it a10:
As faithful as a movie can be to a book, the conversations were very true to the novel and as much fit in as possible. Keira did a fantastic job as did Macfadyen. The subtleties of his affections for Lizzy are perfect. Gorgeous cinematography. I've never loved a movie more.

Jane A. gave it a4:
If you want to see a brilliant adaptation of this book, watch the BBC version. It has an unparalleled cast where Elizabeth and her father are actually witty, Mr. Dary actually comes off as arrogant, and Mrs. Bennet is actually the obnoxious woman Austen intended her to be. Unfortunately this film, though of course not able to touch on everything the five hour BBC version or three volume novel encompassed, hardly reflected one theme. Austen titled her book Pride and Prejudice, yet the movie failed to even include Mary's insight on the difference between pride and vanity, or Elizabeth's self-realization at the vanity that caused her own prejudice against Mr. Darcy. This was nothing more than a shortened plot summary of a novel that deserves so much more and should not have been made if it could not have painted a more beautiful character portrayal of Lizzy and society than the BBC series--most definitely not worthy of Academy recognition.

Drew Lumpkin gave it a10:
Keira Knightley was absolutely brilliant.

GabiPardal gave it a10:
What a amazing novel and movie!! Great message in so many ways, very positive and comfortable. The soundtrack are just great! The "universal acclaim" is fair.

Alan T. gave it a0:
A film that has been thought in terms of ingredients : how much grinning or greenery should be put into into it to do the trick. Utterly artificial and boring.Elisabeth constant knowing smirk is unbereable and her diction is abominable.

Kassie B. gave it a10:
I think this is one of my favorite movies of all time. The cinematography is brilliant and the casting is spot on. I think Kiera Knightley is the perfect Elizabeth Bennett and Matthew Macfadyen is soo dreamy as Darcy. I also think the sound track is absolutely amazing. Basically I just love everything about this movie.

Pride & Prejudice Focus Features

Pride & Prejudice
Focus Features