Bit of Ivory

So, I know that many of you saw the trailer for Pride and Prejudice: A Latter-day Comedy and were concerned. I recall Rachel saying it looked “horrible”, and edeainfj thought Austen had been “reduced to bad, cliched, teenie-bopper romantic comedy drivel.” Many of my LJ friends concurred.

I admit, the trailer didn’t give me much hope. I had been looking forward to this production. Most of you don’t know about the recent flood of independently -produced Mormon films. It started with a flick called “God’s Army” back in 2000, which was a very well-done move about missionaries in southern California. Its success started a rash of filmmakers trying to capitalize on what Richard Dutcher started. Unfortunately, most of them have been so-so to downright terrible. A notable exception would be “The Other Side of Heaven”, which was actually distributed by Disney on DVD, about the missionary experiences of John Groberg in Tonga in the fifties. It starred Christopher Gorham and Anne Hathaway, and was very, very well done. But then there were such travesties as “The Singles Ward” and “The RM,” which decided that humor consisted of “It’s funny because it’s true” moments and cameos by local celebrities such as LaVell Edwards and Larry Miller. These two movies were so overloaded with Mormon cliches, bad acting and sophomoric directing that they’re truly painful for any thinking human being to watch. So when I heard that someone was making a movie based on Pride and Prejudice I was intruiged. At least they had good source material.

I tried to keep an open mind, though. Lots of trailers make movies look incredibly stupid. Then Box Office Magazine gave it an incredibly positive review, and I decided to give it a chance.

I am SO glad I did.

First of all, setting it in Provo was a stroke of genius. Nowhere is the marriage-market mentality as prevalent in this day and age as it is in good old Provo, Utah. Instead of 5 sisters, you have 5 roommates. Jane is an exchange student, Elizabeth is a 26-year-old (ANCIENT in the Mormon world, definitely On The Shelf) aspiring novelist, Mary is hoplelessly socially-inept, Lydia is a boy chaser in the extreme, and Kitty is Lydia’s little sister who follows wherever she leads. Lydia and Kitty spend a good amount of the show following the advice of a “The Rules” clone called “The Pink Bible, which offers such advice as “Nerdy men can be a pain, but they are easy to catch and will usually support you” and “Some guys try to seem cool. Do not be fooled. This is a pathetic attempt at misdirection. No guy has ever been cool, no guy will ever be cool. Beneath the facade, all guys are like your dad.” Charles Bingley is a goofy, rich guy who made all his money selling classical music CDs for dogs. Jack Wickham turns out to be a complusive gambler who tricks unwitting young Mormon women into thinking that he’s waiting for a temple divorce, gets them to elope to Vegas, and then runs up gambling debts on their credit, all while being legally married to someone else. Collins is a hopelessy inept return missionary who keeps quoting his mission president (President de Bourgh) and can’t take a hint. And Darcy is a very rich, very cute British guy that Bingley baptized while on his mission and who happens to be the “D” in “D&G Publishing”, a publisher that Elizabeth sent her book to. The story is updated in an entirely believable and funny way, with lots of great references to the book and even a few nods to the BBC/A&E miniseries. Eventually Elizabeth goes on study abroad to London and Darcy follows her over after explaining to the judge why he started a fight with Wickham, and they meet at Lyme Park, which most of you know as the location used for Pemberley. They also kept putting relevant quotes from the books in between scenes. For instance, Jane and Elizabeth decide to go on a hike to get their minds off their romantic troubles, so they flash “What are men to rocks and mountians?” up there. And when Elizabeth gets really mad at what Darcy says about her book (they want to buy it, but want it to be revised), it says “Angry people are not always wise.” It was great. They also managed to work in Mormon references without being completely in your face about the whole thing, without distracting from the story, and without making all Mormons look really stupid.

I want to write more, but I have to go to work. In any case, I very much hope that “Pride and Prejudice” truly can make the jump from Mormon Movie to sleeper hit, like “My Big Fat Greek Wedding,” because I really think that all of you would really like it.