Emma.

Tales of matchmaking usually are lackluster. That is certainly true in Emma., the new adaption of the famous 1815 novel by Jane Austin directed by Autumn de Wilde, in her debut, with a screenplay written by Eleanor Catton. Trying to ride on the coattails of the immensely successful adaptation of Little Women directed by Greta Gerwig last year, De Wilde and her team, particularly production designer Kave Quinn and costume designer Alexandra Byrne, do an exceptional job at recreating early nineteenth century English estates, but alas, there are people (boring people) whose stories are told here, making for an uninteresting film.

Anya Taylor-Joy is Emma Woodhouse, whom Austin described as "handsome, clever, and rich." (The film's poster reminds us of this.) Taylor-Joy, who has been on a roll since her debut in the 2015 horror film The Witch, certainly fits the part, doing as good a job as possible leading a cast that doesn't succeed in keeping up with her. Emma becomes a companion of a young orphan named Harriet Smith (Mia Goth), and she decides to steer Harriet towards an ideal man. This is despite the fact that a young farmer has asked for Harriet's hand in marriage. For a reason that's unclear in the film (indeed, most of Emma's motivations throughout the story don't make any sense), Emma convinces Harriet to deny the farmer's hand in marriage and instead try to woo the local vicar, Elton (Josh O'Connor). Elton, however, is infatuated with Emma, not Harriet, and he makes quite a show when she turns him down, and cares not if he has hurt Harriet's feelings.

As for Emma, despite frequently screwing things up for the young orphan she's supposed to look out for, she starts to fancy Frank Churchill (Callum Turner), the stepson of Emma's former governess. Despite that infatuation, she will soon start to fall for George Knightley (Johnny Flynn), a young estate owner whom she often banters with. That, however, proves to be yet another problem, as Harriet starts to fall in love with George after he rescues her from being alone without a dance partner at a local ball. This is a very simplistic summary of what happens, as within twenty minutes of the film, there will be so many names to keep track of that you might want to consider bringing a pen and paper for notes.

Old novel or not, this is not an interesting plot. In fact, nothing is interesting about this story or adaptation. Why? Plot and acting, neither of which are noteworthy. Aside from Taylor-Joy, most of these performances aren't that interesting to watch. Flynn is fine as George, but Bill Nighy as Emma's father, the biggest star in the film, does essentially what he does in the majority of his performances, moving his arms about and chortling in a way that's admittedly hard to mimic but not so impressive at this point of this illustrious actor. Much, if not most, of the actors do a sort of physical comedy that seems better suited for a high school play, in which audiences would only laugh due to parental pride and remarkable kindness. I've never seen another movie in which the act of standing up and sitting down was thought to be funny, but it appears to be that that was the aim here. Chewing food and drinking tea isn't particularly funny, either, but this film seems to disagree with me.

One example of someone trying too hard is O'Connor as Vicar Elton. O'Connor has already amazed audiences with his versatility (he played one of the leads in God's Own Country and currently plays Prince Charles on The Crown). But while some of his previous work has demonstrated his ability to gain an audience's sympathy for the characters he plays, here he is mismatched. Vicar Elton is a vile character, prone to temper tantrums and not much of a man of God as he's supposed to be. There is nothing sympathetic about Elton, and so it's almost as if O'Connor is not sure what to do. He can screech and whine to decent effect, but the other scenes are just him raising his eyebrows as if O'Connor really, really wants us to know that Elton is up to no good. 

Miranda Hart, though, it must be said, is a joy to watch. In a scene in which Emma insults Miss Bates at a picnic, one really feels for her. And her shouting to her hard-of-hearing mother at a dinner scene that she "must sample the tart" is the film's sole memorable moment.

It's a pity that a film like this has turned out to be so surprisingly dull and insufferable. It is at least wonderful to listen to its score by Isobel Waller-Bridge and David Schweitzer. Byrne's costume design is also stupendous and worthy of praise. I liked these elements of Emma., but virtually nothing else. Maybe it's because I've never read the famous novel, or because I haven't seen the 1996 version, or because I barely remember Clueless, which was loosely based on this story. All I can tell you is that I was bored out of my mind, and I hope I never have to watch Emma. again.