Studio: Buena Vista Home Video Release Date: 08/15/2008 Run time: 120 minutes

Like Molière, which was released in theaters around the same time, Becoming Jane isn't a conventional biopic. Instead, Julian Jarrold (White Teeth) expands on events from Jane Austen's life that may have shaped her fiction. To his credit, he doesn't stray too far from the facts. In 1795, 20-year-old Jane (Anne Hathaway with believable British accent) is an aspiring author. Her parents (Julie Walters and James Cromwell) married for love, and money is tight. They hope to see their youngest daughter make a more lucrative match, and there's a besotted local, Mr. Wisley (Laurence Fox, son of actor James Fox), who would be happy to oblige. Unfortunately, Jane isn't interested. Then, she meets brash law student Tom (The Last King of Scotland's James McAvoy), while he's staying with relatives in rural Hampshire. As in many Austen novels, it isn't love at first sight--but rather irritation. Just as affection begins to bloom, Tom has to return to London, and Wisley, whose financial prospects are superior, proposes. To complicate matters, Tom's uncle (Ian Richardson in his final performance) disapproves of the outspoken young lady just as much as Wisley's aunt (Maggie Smith, lending the proceedings some subtle humor). Had Austen penned the script, Tom and Wisley would be combined into one person, but life doesn't work that way--and nor does Becoming Jane. Though Jarrold's effort may not be as swoon-worthy as Joe Wright's Pride and Prejudice, it remains true to the spirit of the author's work. --Kathleen C. Fennessy

I really enjoy this movie. The sexual tension between Anne Hathaway's and James McAvoy's characters is amazing. If you are a fan of Jane Austen, I would definitely recommend you see this movie. However, true Jane Austen fans will undoubtedly know how the movie ends, which is a drawback.

Stunning movie. Romantic and heart-wrenching. Beautiful scenery and acting. Anne Hathaway did a fabulous job at portraying Jane Austen. I wasn't a fan of hers before, but I was immensely impressed with her acting in this movie. The story haunts you long after you've stopped watching it. I had to see it again and again and again ...
You won't be disappointed!

Recently I reviewed a commercial film about the famous English writer and illustrator Ms. Beatrix Potter and mentioned there that, apparently, despite the very great cultural accomplishments of that woman the filmmakers could not resist centering the film on her love interests. I note that this is the case with the story line here as well. I also noted in "Ms. Potter" that I was not sure how faithfully the creators of that film were to the biography of Ms. Potter's life, however, for my purpose that it was neither here nor there. That is also the case here, as the creative work of Ms. Jane Austen needs no real defense. She had an almost unerring novelistic sense of the vices and virtues of the English gentry of the early 19th century. On its own terms this is a very appealing story line of an artist struggling to create work, a double struggle in the case of women in the early 19th century (and since then, as well), to have a creative life as well as social and personal life despite very heavy pressure to conform to the norms of bourgeois British society- meaning marriage and children. So kudos, Jane. And kudos for Ms. Elizabeth Bennett and all the others in those well-thought out novels.

A delightful journey into the life of writer Jane Austen, whose character's lives in her books have happier endings than her own. Torn between giving up the man she loves so he may help his impoverished family and please his rich uncle, Jane clings to her passion for the written word to help heal her wounds in the real world. Choosing not to marry another rich suitor because she does not love him, Jane hopes to 'live by her pen'.

Chrissy K. McVay - Author

I love romance, so I enjoyed this movie very much. It was nice to discovered the kind of life that Jane Austen could had had and related with his books, it can explain a lot about her personality. And the performances of Anne Hathaway and James Mcavoy were great, they made a nice couple on the screen, they transmit the idea of real love through their rolls. Perfect for my teast.