Nicholas Nickleby

<body topmargin=0 leftmargin=0 marginheight=0 marginwidth=0> <table cellpadding=0 cellspacing=0 border=0><tr> <td valign="top" colspan=2 height=80 BGCOLOR="#000000" TEXT="#F7F7FF" bgproperties="fixed" background="04000500dvldtc.png"> <div> <FONT SIZE="5" COLOR="#FFCC66" FACE="Arial" ><B>Reel Movie Critic.com</B></FONT><B>     |     </B><A HREF="index.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Reel Movie Critic.com"><U><B>home</B></U></A></div> <div> <A HREF="id1735.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Heaven"><U>Heaven</U></A>   |   <A HREF="id1663.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Hell House"><U>Hell House</U></A>   |   <A HREF="id1761.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Hidden Fortress"><U>Hidden Fortress</U></A>   |   <A HREF="id1813.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="His Secret Life"><U>His Secret Life</U></A>   |   <A HREF="id1849.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Holiday Movie Preview 2002"><U>Holiday Movie Preview 2002</U></A>   |   <A HREF="id1865.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="The Hot Chick"><U>The Hot Chick</U></A>   |   <A HREF="id1847.htm" 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   </B><FONT SIZE="3" COLOR="#FFCC66" FACE="Wingdings 2" ><B>êê</B></FONT><B> ½   Stars. Rated PG.</B></div> </tD> </tR> <tR> <tD VALIGN=TOP HEIGHT= 19 WIDTH="588"><div> Reviewed by Shelley Cameron</div> </tD> </tR> <tR> <tD VALIGN=TOP HEIGHT= 19 WIDTH="588"><IMG BORDER="0" SRC="1x1.gif" HEIGHT="19" ALIGN="bottom" WIDTH="588" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0"></tD> </tR> <tR> <tD VALIGN=TOP HEIGHT= 23 WIDTH="588"><div> Memoirs from Cold Comfort Farm</div> </tD> </tR> </TABLE></div> <bR> <div> <TABLE BORDER="0" CELLPADDING="1" CELLSPACING="1" WIDTH="591" BORDERCOLORLIGHT="#C0C0C0" BORDERCOLORDARK="#808080" FRAME="BOX" RULES="ALL" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0" > <tR> <tD VALIGN=TOP HEIGHT= 19 WIDTH="587"><div> Charlie Hunnam: Nicholas Nickleby </div> </tD> </tR> <tR> <tD VALIGN=TOP HEIGHT= 19 WIDTH="587"><div> Christopher Plummer: Ralph Nickleby</div> </tD> </tR> <tR> <tD VALIGN=TOP HEIGHT= 19 WIDTH="587"><div> Jamie Bell: Smike</div> </tD> </tR> <tR> <tD VALIGN=TOP HEIGHT= 19 WIDTH="587"><div> Jim Broadbent: Wackford Squeers</div> </tD> </tR> <tR> <tD VALIGN=TOP HEIGHT= 19 WIDTH="587"><div> Nathan Lane: Vincent Crummles</div> </tD> </tR> <tR> <tD VALIGN=TOP HEIGHT= 19 WIDTH="587"><IMG BORDER="0" SRC="1x1.gif" HEIGHT="19" ALIGN="bottom" WIDTH="587" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0"></tD> </tR> <tR> <tD VALIGN=TOP HEIGHT= 19 WIDTH="587"><div> Directed by Douglas McGrath</div> </tD> </tR> </TABLE></div> <bR> <div> The newest effort to translate Charles Dickens' epic tale from page to film is a concoction that never quite gets off the ground.  In trying to tell the entire story of young master Nickleby's misadventures, it condenses the rich nuance of characters and the ups and downs of Nicholas and his family into a too short --- minutes.  The result is much like a classic illustrated graphic novel, i.e. a comic book.  An ambitious task in any case, and though it has some bright moments, in the hands of director and screenwriter director Douglas McGrath, Nickleby is more lost than found.  </div> <bR> <div> In classic Dickens tradition, the fortunes of Nicholas rise and fall several times in the good news/bad news style that made the writer wildly popular during his lifetime and right up to the present.  The 800-page book tells the tale of Nicholas, born to loving but not particularly enterprising parents, and his sister, Kate.  They enjoy a comfortable childhood in their country home, but when their father suffers an early death, they are left quite without resources.  With their mother, they travel to London to seek help from Uncle Ralph Nickleby (Christopher Plummer) who has done very well financially managing other people's money.  In the film's strongest performance, Plummer is chillingly disdainful, but agrees to find Nicholas and his sister positions from which they may rise through hard work and industry.  This is quickly followed by the bad-news realization that the teaching position for Nicholas is at the dungeon-like boarding school run by the vile Wackford Squeers (Jim Broadbent) and his miserly wife.  Kate is ensconced in the thinly disguised respectability of an apprentice dressmaker, but is in fact kept captive as a decorative amusement for Uncle and his associates, most notably Sir Mulberry Hawk (James Fox).</div> <bR> <div> Both Nicklebys are miserable in their wretched posts and seek to find better means to support themselves and their mother, and to extricate themselves from Uncle Ralph.  Jim Broadbent plays the wicked Squeers for dark laughs in the sequences at the school, but they don't quite work to produce a comic tone the likes of <I>Tom Jones</I>; nor do they ring true enough to touch us. Charlie Hunnam is no Albert Finney and Douglas McGrath is no Tony Richardson.  The best bits are from Nathan Lane and loony Alan Cumming in the traveling theatrical troupe where Nicholas and his new friend Smike (Jamie Bell) take up residence after running away from the school.    </div> <div>    </div> <div> Jumping from plot point to plot point, it never connects emotionally; we never care much what happens to Nicholas.  This makes the ruination and destruction of Uncle Ralph less effective than it might have been.  Still, Plummer's restrained yet intense performance marks it as a powerful episode.  Beginning and ending with tidy scenes of the bucolic English countryside like Victorian paintings that have come to life, unfortunately what comes in between the front piece and the back cover is oddly tedious, in spite of how much territory is covered. </div> <bR> <div> The fine supporting cast includes Tom Courtney as Uncle Ralph's defiant assistant and James Fox as a particularly loathsome client but can't save the weak script. </div> <bR> <div> Pretty to look at, the visual style does its best to carry the load, but ultimately cannot deliver enough empathy with the characters.  Instead it force feeds us horrible and tragic events, making it too hard to swallow and leaving out the complexity Dickens put into Nicholas and his company.</div> <bR> <div> <TABLE BORDER="0" CELLPADDING="1" CELLSPACING="1" WIDTH="592" BORDERCOLORLIGHT="#C0C0C0" BORDERCOLORDARK="#808080" FRAME="BOX" RULES="ALL" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0" > <tR> <tD VALIGN=TOP HEIGHT= 20 WIDTH="588"><div> Shelley Cameron <FONT SIZE="3" COLOR="#FFCC66" FACE="Symbol" >Ó</FONT> 2002</div> </tD> </tR> <tR> <tD VALIGN=TOP HEIGHT= 19 WIDTH="588"><div> <A HREF="mailto:shlcameron@aol.com" TARGET="_top" TITLE="mailto:shlcameron@aol.com"><U><U>Shelley@reelmoviecritic.com</U></U></A></div> </tD> </tR> </TABLE></div> <bR> <bR> <bR> <bR> </tD> </tR> </TABLE></div> <bR> </td> </tr></table></body>