Sundance Jan. 22 p.m.: Austenland

Director: Jerusha Hess,  Screenwriters: Jerusha Hess and Shannon Hale. Cast:  Keri Russell, Jane Seymour, JJ Feild, Bret McKenzie, Jennifer Coolidge, Georgia King, James Callis.     U.S.A./United Kingdom, 2012, 97 min., color.

Description:  Thirtysomething, single Jane [Keri Russell] is obsessed with Mr. Darcy, as played by Colin Firth in Pride and Prejudice .  On a trip to an English resort, her fantasies of meeting the perfect Regency-era gentleman became more real than she ever imagined.

Whoever wrote that description didn’t see the film.  The “English resort” is an all pink and Victorian lace Disneyland run by slapstick bumblers.

For example, Keri Russell begins her trek to Austenland wearing Jane Austen era clothing sitting on the baggage rack on the back of a stage coach while Jennifer Coolidge, dressed all in pink ribbons and bows is ensconced in the stage coach inner compartment.  It is a comedy in the Leslie Neilson Airplane genre.

For years my husband has been complaining that I have no sense of humor.  Guess he is right.  Of the six of us who went to that film I am the only one who wasn’t convulsed in laughter.  I have low tolerance for slapstick and do not at all enjoy Jennifer Coolidge’s humor.  However everyone else in the theater seemed to be thrilled with it.

In the Q&A we learned that it was picked up so you will have an opportunity to see it for yourself.  Spoiler alert:  Despite unimaginable hurdles and ridiculous screw ups, she does end up with “the perfect Regency-era gentleman.”

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To see this film’s listing the Sundance Film Festival Guide, click here.

For the film’s official web site, click here.