An American in Austen - Hallmark

I watched An American in Austen on Saturday night and I had high expectations for this one because I love a good time-travel movie! Was this a hit or a miss for Hallmark? I think it’s going to depend on who you ask. How will I rate this one? Well, I have some mixed feelings about it myself, so let's dive right in and talk about it!

An American in Austen premiered on Hallmark Channel on February 17th and stars Eliza Bennett and a lot of other supporting actors. In the opening credits they gave Nicholas Bishop second billing, but in my opinion there really wasn’t what I would consider to be a male lead in this one. He played Mr. Darcy but I have my reservations about his interpretation of this character.

I will say, the main storyline was actually a very good one. I could almost compare it a little to It’s a Wonderful Life in that our main character, Harriet, doesn’t appreciate how good her life is, or in this case, what a wonderful man she has in her life who loves her dearly and wants to marry her.

She happens to be an avid fan of Jane Austen books and she unintentionally thinks that no one could possibly compare in real life to Mr. Darcy from Pride & Prejudice. 

Now, I have to tell you I think I found an Easter Egg in here!

I didn’t even see it the first time through, but when I watched it again to write my review I looked at the Pride & Prejudice book she was holding in the library more closely and check this out (sorry, no pun intended)! The cover of the book shows the introduction was written by Victoria Jennings. Does this name ring any bells? She’s the Princeton professor from Paging Mr. Darcy that Eloise was trying to impress. Coincidence?

Anyway, back to the story. Harriet falls asleep in the cab ride home after her boyfriend’s proposal, to which she replied, “maybe” and after making a wish on a shooting star, suddenly finds herself riding in a horse-drawn carriage on her way to Longbourn, the Bennet family’s estate from Pride & Prejudice.

I thought it was very clever writing to make Harriet fit in as the Bennet’s American cousin who was coming to stay with them. But if you saw my Twitter posting on Saturday night you’ll know that they lost me the moment she stepped out of the carriage and …..  And uh, yeah, she fell flat on her face. I am so over these awkward, klutzy characters in leading roles in Hallmark movies. There’s just nothing funny or endearing about that to me. 

I realize I am only one of probably millions of people around the world who has read Pride & Prejudice, and I’m sure everyone has a different vision of what each character from the book should be like. I know I certainly do, so I’m going to share what I think they got right and admittedly, where I wondered if anyone who made this movie had actually read the book themselves. There are times where I think maybe they‘ve only read the cliff-notes version.

Let’s start with Mrs. Bennet. I loved the casting of her character in this one. I knew I recognized her the moment I saw her face but I had to look her up to remember why. She played Fred’s wife, Clara, in The Muppet Christmas Carol! My only critique of Mrs. Bennet in this movie is she seemed to be too level-headed and sweet and understanding as compared to the way she was written in the book. While, truthfully, I love this about her in the movie, I always envisioned Mrs. Bennet as a grown-up version of Lydia - a silly, foolish, teenager in a grown-up body. Just think of how many times she complained to Mr. Bennet about how he had no compassion for her nerves. To me, that was her way of throwing tantrums when she didn’t get her way. Not to mention, in the book she actually told Elizabeth she would never see her again if she refused to marry Mr. Collins. Could you see the sweet Mrs. Bennet in this movie ever saying that to her?

Mr. Bennet had very little screen time so I don’t have much of an opinion of him one way or another. I think his only purpose was to show off his sideburns. Actually, on that note, I must give credit to the sets and costumes. They were spectacular. I have only two minor critiques.

One is Elizabeth’s bangs. I think they were too straight and down her forehead for the period. When I looked up regency-style hairstyles, I only saw bangs that were curled and off the forehead, pushed over to the sides of the face.  The second one had to do with a fantastic cameo appearance, which I’ll get to in a moment.

First, let’s talk about the sisters, Jane, Elizabeth, Mary, Kitty and Lydia. 

Jane’s character in this movie was close to accurate, but not quite right in that she displayed too much emotion in the movie …  If you recall in the book the reason Mr. Bingley was swayed by Mr. Darcy to leave in the first place was because Jane was so shy and reserved she did not give him enough indication that she was really falling for him. Even after she found out he left Netherfield she bottled up much of her pain inside and didn’t let it show just how much she was hurting.

Elizabeth wasn’t bad, either. I had to take some time to put my thoughts together about her. In the book she was intelligent, but not nerdy, and she wasn’t afraid to speak her mind, but she wasn’t flighty, either. In the movie Elizabeth was too flighty and emotional for my liking. The part I had to think about, and still don’t know the answer so I’d love to hear your take on this, is was that intentional to this story? Was Harriet’s interference in Elizabeth’s life so critical that her character changed that drastically?

As for the younger three sisters, I don’t have much of an opinion of Kitty, in either the book or the movie. She was kind of overlooked a lot, which was true to character in my opinion. Lydia was supposed to be the silliest, most impulsive of all of them, but in the movie she and Elizebeth practically switched places. Again, was that by design due to Harriet’s interference? I will say I laughed when Lydia was critical of Elizabeth’s running off with Mr. Wickham and Harriet said …  “Okay well that’s a little ironic coming from you!” 

Mary was supposed to be a nerdy bookworm. But in the movie she was far too pretty and feminine. Does this look like a nerdy bookworm to you?

I supposed she was probably true to character in accepting Mr. Collins’s proposal. Not that that happened in the book but since the storyline had changed I think it makes sense that she would have accepted such a proposal because it was the logical thing to do.

Speaking of Mr. Collins, his character was spot on. He was supposed to be somewhat creepy and obsessed with material things. So this scene at the dinner table, where he was admiring the house he would someday inherit, was pretty accurate.

And how about the special appearance by Sarah Ferguson? I noticed she was also listed as an executive producer, so I liked that she had a bit role in here. I’m a little surprised she didn’t play Lady Catherine De Bourgh, but maybe that’s a step down for a Duchess! My only little critique of her is she wore what I think is modern-day makeup. Somehow I don’t see ladies of that era wearing that much makeup, but I’m not going to let that bother me. I love that she’s involved with this.

As you can see by now, Harriet interfered with their lives so much that she changed up the story quite a bit. Mr. Darcy proposed to her first. Mr. Wickham showed up at the ball where he wasn’t supposed to be. Mr. Collins proposed to Mary, of all people. And Elizabeth ran off to marry Mr. Wickham. So, of course, these were all crises that Harriet needed to fix before the ending, and ultimately, everything did work out.

However, having said that, the ending of the Pride & Prejudice part of the story was way too forced. Not Jane and Mr. Bingley. We know those two were already in love by this point in the story, they were just too afraid to admit it to each other. No, I’m referring to Elizabeth and Mr. Darcy. In the book it took quite a bit of time for Elizabeth to realize she was falling in love with him. And the movie only touched on the very early parts of the book. Mr. Darcy and Elizabeth hardly had time to interact, yet at the end he asked her to marry him and she said, yes? Not to mention this was only mere days after he had just proposed to Harriet! That bothered me. Mr. Darcy was not that flighty in the book.

The real ending for Harriet, though, was pretty good. Except for finding the old book in the cab. I know I said this is kind of like It’s a Wonderful Life, but that book was added for no reason other than to force it in there to look like It’s a Wonderful Life. And why did that cab driver have to be so rude? Are typical cab drivers just like that by reputation? 

Well, the ending I liked was that there was some character growth in Harriet. She learned to stop comparing her man to the fictional Mr. Darcy and they had their happy ending. It was cute. Not spectacular, but cute.

Although I didn’t like Harriet’s character one bit, the overall story and message of the movie was, surprisingly, enough to save this one for me the second time around. It must be because I love time travel stories and  is one of my all-time favorites. And I can’t overlook the sets and the costumes. Whoever was in charge of these - they were spectacular! So for all these reasons, I’ll give this 3 out of 5.  I know you might think this is awfully low, but I was looking at a 1 or a 2 for the first hour and 20 minutes of watching it. So it really did come up from there. I can’t go any higher than that because I didn’t feel any emotions at the end. And I never felt any connection with Harriet. She was annoying and selfish and made herself the center of attention in every scene, including answering other characters’ questions. This movie had the potential to be SO much better in my opinion.

As always, please share your own thoughts and opinions on this movie right here in the comments below. I'm interested to find out how many of you agree with me and who has a very different opinion this time. I’m always open to a fun discussion!

Well I think that wraps up my thoughts on An American in Austen.  As always, thank you so much for joining me for this week's Magical Movie Club review.  We'll be back next week to chat more about our favorite Magical Movies! 

Hallmark Channel's Original Preview: An American in Austen Preview

Hallmark Channel's Sneak Peek: An American in Austen Sneak Peek

Hallmark Channel Movie Site: https://www.hallmarkchannel.com/an-american-in-austen

Watch with Amazon Prime: An American in Austin (Prime Video)