Pride and Prejudice: A Latter Day Comedy

Elizabeth Bennet (Heskin) is a college student in Utah.  She lives with her best friends: sweet Jane Vasquez (Sola), demanding Lydia Meryton (Stables), Lydia's impressionable sister Kitty Meryton (Hamilton), and awkward Mary Lamblen (Kerwin).  She is also trying to get her novel published and works at a bookstore.  After receiving another rejection letter, her roommates force her to go to a party, hosted by Charles (Gourley) and Caroline (Holden) Bingley.

The Bingley's are wealthy, and Lydia plans to catch Charles' eye by following the guidelines from "The Pink Bible," which offers steps to find and keep a man.  But Charles and Jane are instantly smitten and dance the night away.  Elizabeth is disgusted by his best friend, Will Darcy (Seale), and spends the night avoiding the men in her life: Collins (Palmer) is awkward and thinks they are dating, while  Jack Wickham (Maguire) is a serial flirt who wants a serious relationship.

She turns down a marriage proposal from Collins and keeps Jack at arms length, content to keep him as a friend and nothing more.  Even though Elizabeth can't stand Darcy, their paths continue to cross.  Can she find a publisher for her book and sort out her messy love life?

This film sets out to be a modern retelling of Jane Austen's "Pride and Prejudice", with Mormons.  Much like Clueless (based on Austen's "Emma") re-imagines Austen's story to a modern teen romance, this film modernizes the story and context.  However, it is necessary to understand the Latter-Day Saints (LDS) to get some of the humor.  I know nothing about the LDS Church, but I love Austen's novel.  I understood the film, but didn't pick up on all of the nuanced humor that people that know/understand the LDS would get.

The plot remains the same, but makes a few minor changes.  First, the main characters (Elizabeth, Jane, Lydia, Kitty, and Mary) are now roommates, instead of sisters.  Elizabeth Bennet keeps her name, but the rest of the women have different last names.  Mr. and Mrs. Bennet are absent from the film, although they are referenced a few times.  Also, the characters of Lady Catherine de Bourgh and her daughter Anne are missing.  Darcy's sister has a slightly different name, and the role of Elizabeth's best friend Charlotte, is diminished.  The missing characters change some aspects of the story.  It also changes the futures of the characters, specifically Lydia, Wickam, Mary, and Collins.

The cast is ok, but not great.  Kam Heskin and Orlando Seale are solid leads, especially when they are bickering.  Henry Maguire plays the line between charming and jerk as Wickam.  Kelly Stables (the only cast member I recognized before watching the film) is a good Lydia, annoying but still interesting (most Lydia's are more grating than anything else).  Amber Hamilton Russo (billed as Nicole Hamilton) is an interesting Kitty, and makes the character more than just Lydia's sidekick.  Charlotte is downplayed from Elizabeth's best friend, to a classmate.  She is played by former American Idol contestant Carmen Rasmusen.  Collins is the perfect amount of awkward, as played by Hubbel Palmer.  The only character that I didn't particularly like was Jane.  Lucila Sola is beautiful, and Jane did grow on me, but she wasn't a great choice.

I prefer the BBC miniseries (with Jennifer Ehle and Colin Firth) and the 2005 film (with Keira Knightley and Matthew Macfadyen), but it isn't bad.

Pride and Prejudice: A Latter Day Comedy (2003) 104 minutes
Director: Andrew Black
Starring: Kam Heskin as Elizabeth Bennet
Orlando Seale as Will Darcy
Ben Gourley as Charles Bingley
Lucila Sola as Jane Vasquez
Henry Maguire as Jack Wickham
Kelly Stables as Lydia Meryton
Nicole Hamilton as Kitty Meryton
Rainy Kerwin as Mary Lamblen
Kara Holden as Caroline Bingley
Hubbel Palmer as William Collins
Honor Bliss as Anna Darcy
Carmen Rasmusen as Charlotte Lucas