The wide release of BRIDE AND PREJUDICE tomorrow has spawned a new set of reviews, which, curiously, we found a great deal more enjoyable than the big-name reviews that preceded it. Perhaps because there is more thought going into these reviews (well, most of them) and less hipper-than-thou posturing. (Was anyone else reminded of Perpetua from the Bridget Jones books when reading some of the snottier reviews earlier? No?)

Kenneth Turan of the Los Angeles Times (via the Monterey County Herald) tries very hard to be as hip and snobby as his counterparts (how Darcy of him), but there’s something about B&P that he can’t help liking:

Jane Austen comes from sturdy stock. She prospered in posh Beverly Hills in “Clueless” and survived a transplant to trendy London in “Bridget Jones’s Diary.”

Now it’s India’s turn, and Austen proves to be more than up to the switch in scenery in Gurinder Chadha’s lively and cheerful “Bride & Prejudice.”

We’re fairly certain that Mr. Turan is a Janeite; he’s certainly familiar with the story. It will be interesting to compare his comments on P&P3 when it comes out this year.

Phil Villarreal in the Arizona Daily Star is quite pleased with the film and doesn’t scruple to tell us so.

People complain that today’s movies don’t have enough romance, don’t have enough understatement, don’t have enough elegance.

No one gripes, though, that the movies don’t have enough “Pride and Prejudice.”

Jane Austen’s romantic comedy of prestige marriages and love jeopardized by misunderstanding is eternally up for movie treatment, now in Gurinder Chadha’s “Bride & Prejudice,” which joyfully infuses the story with the trappings of Indian “Bollywood” musicals.

Each revamp of “Pride” must work feverishly to differentiate itself from the pack. The Internet Movie Database lists seven adaptations of the book as films, miniseries and TV movies. And that doesn’t even count “Snide and Prejudice” (1997). Just last year there was a Mormon update of “Pride,” and Keira Knightley is starring in a British version due out this year. The only frontier left to conquer for the lovelorn Lizzie Bennet and crew is outer space.

Oh Lord. Don’t give George Lucas any ideas.

We were also vastly amused by the worldly-wise stylings of Shawn Patrick Green of the University of Arizona Daily Wildcat, who is very decided in his opinions for so young a person.

The novelty of this film, aside from it being a cheesy Bollywood musical, is that it’s based on Jane Austen’s book “Pride and Prejudice.” If you’ve read the book, (which I, being a guy, haven’t) you’ll recognize a lot of characters and situations that were present in the novel (according to Cliffs Notes).

We think that paragraph tells you pretty much all you need to know about this review. We also think the two previous reviewers, not to mention some of our readers, might disagree with Mr. Green on whether it is possible for men to read a Jane Austen novel. 🙂