Northanger Abbey

Movie: Northanger Abbey
Like/Don't Like: Like. And a sigh was heard from apartment 103.

Okay, this was more like it. After my disappointment with Persuasion last week I didn't have much hope for Northanger Abbey. Especially since, once again, it was only 90 minutes. (Dear PBS, Get a clue! The people who are watching your shows are not 13 year old girls who thing that TRL is a little long and like, ya know, boring sometimes. We may be 80 but I think we can handle staying up until 11 if it meant having a better movie. Hey, how about trying a mini-series? I can wait a week because I'm practically a grown up. Regards, Rachel) So I settled down in my jim-jams with a cup of cocoa (or, as the kids say, ho-cho. To go with the fro-yo. I'm gagging now.) and a skeptical look on my face. Katie joined me because she has today off and could stay up past her bedtime.

Well, I went to bed with peace in my heart because I liked it. Truly. It was charming and funny and captured the whole feel of the novel. Kind of tongue-in-cheek gothic. Catherine was appropriately naive and Henry did just the right amount of teasing. And the actual Northanger Abbey was as spooky as it should be. The ending was a little rushed but they still did a pretty good job with it considering how much time was left. My one thumbs-down was that every single man in Bath seemed to be a leering cad. Everywhere Catherine went men were turning their heads and raising their eyebrows and nodding to their fellow scoundrels as if to say, "Nice spencer. I'd like to help her with that." If they had had mustaches they would have been twirling them. I don't know if that was done to give it a danger-at-every-turn feel but I found it to be kind of laughable.

But really, besides that and the 90 minutes I was really thrilled with it. Next week...Mansfield Park. In the previews the girl who plays Fanny Price looks like a buxom Swiss milk maid. I'm fearful.