I am the type of person who will read a boring book or sit through a tedious movie -- even if I hate it -- thinking that surely it will get better. In some cases, it works -- in most cases, it ends up being a waste of my time.
Monday night was no exception. I had just settled the kids into bed and decided to catch up on my Jane Austen Masterpiece series. I started with the last one to be recorded which was called, "A Room with a View".
"Hmmm?" I thought to myself, "I didn't know Jane Austen wrote, 'A Room with a View?'"
Without further ado, I pushed play on the tivo and set the movie in motion.
The story itself is a good one. The classic tale of girl meets guy. Girl falls in love with the guy (who happens to be poor). Girl ditches poor guy for "richer" guy. Girl realizes her mistake and hooks back up with poor guy. Girl and poor guy live happily ever after -- or in this case -- live happily for 10 years and then poor guy gets killed in the war.
This movie had three problems.
1) Poor guy and rich guy were both creepy. It was hard to root for either of them. As a matter of fact, I kept hoping a new guy would appear and eliminate both annoying men off the screen--maybe a little violence would've spiced things up a bit.
2) Whoever was in charge of the musical score, ought to be fired! From the beginning of the show, every time the girl met with poor guy -- creepy music would start to play. I mean, for the first half of the show - I thought he must be a really bad guy. I kept waiting for him to have some hidden secret - like he was a crazy snaggletooth vampire or something of the like. When I realized he was supposed to be the love of her life I had a hard time switching teams.
3) The biggest issue I had with this movie was Jane Austen did not write it. I figured out about a quarter of the way through -- that no way was this a Jane Austen classic. E.M. Forster is actually the author of the book (he's written many other books including 'Howard's End', 'Billy Bud', 'Passage to India' & 'Where Angels Fear to Tread'). Surely, I'm not implying that Jane Austen is the superior author - I mean the guy is famous. BUT, my expectations were a Jane Austen classic--and this my friends was no Jane Austen classic.
Moral of the story?
1) Delete "Masterpiece" off of Tivo - before it records something else that I confuse with Jane Austen.
2) Check out "Room with a View" at the library - the story itself is a good one.
3) The next time I am watching a show or reading a book I don't love--just stop the insanity--don't assume it will get any better.
4) Refer to rule #3 when I start rule #2.
4 comments:
Sometimes I wish that every movie was a Jane Austen movie. Life would be much simpler....
12 more days!
Excellent rules Nic. Maybe we should remember these rules the next time we sit through the dumbest movies ever made while trying to enjoy our WC weekend.
NOOO. Don't delete Masterpiece! Just realize Jane is over for now, and be very picky about what you actually watch. "Room" confused me as well,because I came in halfway through, but I knew those costumes were wrong right away. None of the girls were wearing the dresses that can hide a second trimester pregnancy, which are de rigueur in the Jane flicks.
Yes, her husband had some sort of fake lower class accent and did weird things with his mouth. I think she should have taken her friends up on the exotic vacation and skipped both boys.
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