to opine that the BBC adaptation of Pride and Prejudice is not very good?

[ScribblyGum]

Watching it with dd1 (15) as evidence of what constitutes a great romantic story after sitting through the utter shite that is the Harry Styles fan fiction movie After.

I know P&P is lots of other stuff but I wanted to show her something that I believed was excellent telly.

Four episodes in and I’ve come to the terrible realisation that actually it’s really dated, boring, badly acted and all in all a bit crap.

Far, far too much dull mimsy dancing.

Colin Firth is hot but doesn’t bring much to the part apart from posh snooty emotionally constipated hotness.

Alison Steadman's acting is just silly.

The music is too loud. Are the costumes a bit crap too? Not sure, there’s some bloody weird turbans going on on Caroline Bingley's head.

God it’s so BORING. Neither of us can be arsed to finish it.

I bet the Keira Knightly version is better

Oh my gosh. You are so so U

The Keira Knightley version is definitely not better.

I've watch the BBC version so many times. It's a classic!

I love the BBC version. The Keira Knightley version is absolutely dire. It's all wrong. I found myself wondering if she or the director had even read the book.

Nah, the book is a classic. The BBC version needs a revamp.

I’m with you, Op, definitely the film is better. Brenda Blethin was brilliant, Matthew McFadeyen (?sp) was a superior Darcy, and even KK’s Elizabeth was more realistic. But you’d better don a hard-hat expressing this opinion on here

YABU! It's a classic and utterly brilliant!

you soulless monster!

YABU.
YABVU.
YABVVU.
hth.

Mrs Bennet is meant to be a comic character.
There is lots of dancing in the book.
(No idea about the costumes.)

I know FadedRed. I would have YABVUd myself had I not sat through four boring hours of it yesterday.

YABsoveryU!

The music is glorious. Lizzie is perfect. Darcy is gorgeous. The landscapes are dreamy.

The Keira one sucks.

It has dated, but it's still great, saw it last year

I prefer the Kiera Knightly version..

..I’ll get my coat and leave mumsnet

She (Mrs Bennet) is meant to be comic, I don’t think she’s meant to come across as a deranged loon though is she?

It’s been a while since I read it.

Alison¡s Steadman's gone a bit panto in her portrayal. Dd said she was ridiculous.

I like them both, tbh.

Oh, those of us that prefer the Keira Knightley version are so very much in the minority on MN!

The BBC P&P is like catnip to MNetters

I love the KK version - it is much better acted and the cinematography is gorgeous.

U
Oh hang kitty!!!!

GET OUT!

How dare you speak such blasphemy!

I think Judi Dench in the film version makes for a vastly superior Lady Catherine, and Alison Steadman's screaming and squealing in the tv version is awful but that is about it. In all other respects the tv version is superior. The notion that Matthew McFadden's puppy dog eyes make him a better Darcy than Colin Firth is ludicrous.

How can it date? It's set in the early 1800s!
The BBC version is much truer to the book.

Although the way Wickham walks out of the Bennet house at the end of the visit after marrying Lydia in the film makes him look like a clockwork tin soldier, and that bit weirds me out.

You take that back immediately.
It's a total classic

I can only assume that you have undiagnosed insanity for forming this quite frankly ludicrous opinion! It is a classic! I've spent far too many days watching the whole thing back to back under a duvet with a massive bar of chocolate and a bottle of wine... oooo I feel I need another one soon!

So in summary... YABVVVVVVVU!

I think in the movie the characters are more believable, because they're younger and Jane is truly stunning, as described in the book. But the BBC version is truer to the story in the book - it feels more complete.

But I love them both, and watch them at different times and in different moods. I really love the scene where Lizzie is on the swing in the movie, and the seasons pass. So effective.

YABVVVU. Ehle > Knightly

Alison Steadman's acting is just silly.

as evidence of what constitutes a great romantic story

I think this is your issue. It's satire. It's meant to be funny. The film misses the point.

Presumably you hated the recent adaptation of Catch 22 because it wasn't filmed like Saving Private Ryan?

I know TeenTimesTwo but it has. There were so many scenes yesterday where it was so wooden and staged. I just know all of those scenes set in the village with the actors walking and talking along and I just KNEW there was a little train track with a camera man sitting on it and at the end the director went “Cut! Oh that was marvellous everyone” when actually is was just mediocre acting with a bonnet on done in a straight line.

I judge anyone who prefers the Keira knightly film... yes.. I JUDGE you!!