Film
Movie theaters, reviews and showtimes in New York, plus articles, trailers and more
- Home
- Box Office
- Listings
- Trailers
- Features
Bookmark this page- Edition:
Nicholas Nickleby (2002)
Director: Douglas McGrath
Movie review
From Time Out Film Guide
The appeal of meticulously rendered cobwebs soon fades in this hectoring star-studded extravaganza about the struggles of the teenage Nicholas Nickleby (Hunnam) to rescue his mother, sister and brutalised friend Smike (Bell) from exploitation by his uncle and cronies. McGrath's adaptation of Dickens' intricate novel is dismally short on exposition, poorly scripted, emotionally sterile and generally the result of mixed-up thinking, not least about Victorian speech. Unwisely ignoring modern sensibilities, the more the film insists on playing the gormless friendship between Nickleby and Smike straight, the more you expect the pair to start kissing. That we're then expected to believe Smike has fallen in love with Nickleby's sister Kate (Garai) is surpassed in ridiculousness only by the expediency with which another character dies to make way for Nicholas's drippy wedding. The womenfolk are no better. Having adapted Austen's Emma, McGrath should know better than to proffer a simpering wimp permanently on the verge of tears as the putatively feisty Kate. Apart from a one-dimensional ogress played by Juliet Stevenson, the only female character with spunk comes courtesy of Barry Humphries. The actors revel in their craft to stultifying effect, and while self-satisfied performances from Spall and Broadbent are just about tolerable, young Bell can hardly be said to have paid dues.Author: SS
Cast & crew
Director: Douglas McGrath
Producer: Simon Channing Williams, John N Hart, Jeffrey Sharp
Cast: Charlie Hunnam, Jamie Bell, Jim Broadbent, Tom Courtenay, Alan Cumming, Edward Fox, Romola Garai, Anne Hathaway, Barry Humphries, Nathan Lane, Christopher Plummer, Timothy Spall, Juliet Stevenson, David Bradley, Phil Davis, Sophie Thompson full cast
Genre(s): Period/Swashbucklers
Duration: 132 mins
Most popular on this site
Features
To the letter
Forty years later, Costa-Gavras's Z still brims with fury.
Mind over matter
David Cronenberg reflects on a most bizarre body: his own corpus of work.
Fool's gold
Can an Oscar win lead to a cursed career? Here are five stories of postaward professional meltdowns.
We are the championed
Terrorists and teens abound in this year's "Film Comment Selects."
A history of violence
Matteo Garrone's kaleidoscopic Gomorrah wallops you with Italy's crime crisis.
True romantic
James Gray exchanges urban amorality for amour in Two Lovers.
Playing in the dark
MoMA salutes pianist Stuart Oderman's 50 years as the one-man sound of silents.
Junk bonds
Cast and crew recall the making of the classic NYC drug drama The Panic in Needle Park.
What do you think?
Post your review now