Becoming Jane

Name: Becoming Jane
Genre: Biography, Drama, Romance
Released: August 3, 2007
Duration: 120 min
Rating: 55
Cast: Anne Hathaway, James McAvoy, Julie Walters

2007

METASCORE

Mixed or average reviews based on 34 Critic Reviews

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USER SCORE

Generally favorable reviews based on 52 Ratings

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6.9

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6.9	User Score Generally favorable reviews based on 52 Ratings

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Becoming Jane

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Movie Details & Credits

Miramax Films | Release Date: August 3, 2007 | PG

Starring: Anne Hathaway, James McAvoy, Julie Walters

Summary: Becoming Jane is the story of the great, untold romance that inspired a young Jane Austen. Willful and spirited, Jane is not ready to be tied down to anything but her writing. That is until she meets Tom Lefroy, a charming rogue from London who spends more time drinking and socializing than on his law studies. (Miramax Films)

Director: Julian Jarrold

Genre(s): Biography, Drama, Romance

Rating: PG

Runtime: 120 min

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Critic Reviews

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. Read full review

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. Read full review

Peter Rainer

It's movie-making as match-making. Read full review

Ella Taylor

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

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. Read full review

Stephen Holden

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

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. Read full review

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User Reviews

DonM.

Sep 9, 2007

A literate script, great actors at their peak, lovely to look at, a plot (!) - who could ask fro more from a date at the movies???

0 of 0 users found this helpful

MarF.

Jan 1, 2009

love it. It's so sad to think that Jane Austen wrote in her novels the happy ending she could't have in real life.

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Dostoyevsky3

May 5, 2020

This film brings Jane Austen's story to life through spectacular performances and cinematography. A faithful adaptation of the life of Jane Austen that succeeds in telling her story of love and loss and how she came be the outstanding writer of many beloved novels.

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JohnC

Aug 4, 2007

At first I thought I was in a remake of Pride & Prejudice, but it isn't. Very nicely done. Anne Hathaway is perfect. This definitely is a "green" film - not a "yellow".

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G-RadA.

Sep 3, 2007

A spectacular cast and dazzling picture.

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ChadS.

Feb 18, 2008

According to "Becoming Jane", Austen(Anne Hathaway) wrote canonical literature for the same reason that other women read disposable romantic pap, to add a little spice to their sexless prosaic lives. Since "Becoming Jane" imitates the storyline for Austen's "Sense & Sensibility", the According to "Becoming Jane", Austen(Anne Hathaway) wrote canonical literature for the same reason that other women read disposable romantic pap, to add a little spice to their sexless prosaic lives. Since "Becoming Jane" imitates the storyline for Austen's "Sense & Sensibility", the screenwriter intimates that the celebrated novel was a barely concealed memoir. In this sense, "Becoming Jane" has a patriarchal sensibility, by its very suggestion that Austen's calling card to the ether was a pioneering example of "me"-lit. Happy endings were par for the course in Austen novels; as was her life, a happy ending indeed, if professional success could be measured by a barometer. Although "Becoming Jane" provides a seemingly objective ending about the synchronicity between career and family, the camera sees what the rhetorical screenwriter sees, that a published novel is no match indeed for a naked hand, which tips the scales in favor of family, which makes Austen's life an unqualified failure. "Becoming Jane" leads the viewer to believe that Jane became a famous writer almost by default. Intentional or not, the film aligns itself with the spirit of the times; that a barefoot and pregnant woman is better than a witty, ironical one.… Expand

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ChrisB.

Aug 14, 2007

Jane Austen sucks ass. Romance movies suck ass. A romance movie about Jane Austen exemplifies so much ass-sucking that the makers of this movie are risking causing the universe to implode in on itself. I think that represents my feelings.

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