Vanity Fair (2004)
Directed by Mira Nair
In early 19th century England, orphaned Becky Sharp defies her poverty-stricken background and ascends the social ladder alongside her best friend.
4 connections found
View:
4 films that influenced Vanity Fair
What critics say influenced Vanity Fair
Like a slightly more educated Legally Blonde, Witherspoon plays these scenes well.
There’s a fair bit of Legally Blonde here after all.
After Election and even Legally Blonde, Witherspoon seemed like ideal casting: that big, sharp—Becky Sharp!—jaw line; that crack comic timing; that laserlike stare.
But since then, the young actress has become America's new box office sweetheart, starring in her own "Legally Blonde" franchise, followed by the insipidly saccharine romantic comedy "Sweet Home Alabama."
In fact, the prevailing tone is pink -- the kind of pink that Reese Witherspoon, who plays Rebecca Sharp, made her trademark color as Elle Woods in ''Legally Blonde.''
It makes for an odd coupling: Instead of the coldly calculating heroine of the novel and her requisite downfall, Nair's Becky Sharp (Witherspoon) seems more like a sharp cookie who's able to roll with the punches, more Elle Woods (of Legally Blonde fame) than epic heroine.
But since then, the young actress has become America's new box office sweetheart, starring in her own "Legally Blonde" franchise, followed by the insipidly saccharine romantic comedy "Sweet Home Alabama."
Witherspoon, fresh off her successes with three exercises in being adorable -- the two "Legally Blonde" movies and "Sweet Home Alabama" -- may simply be too appealing to play Sharp.
A huge cast of name actors like Gabriel Byrne ("Spider"), Bob Hoskins ("Maid In Manhattan"), Geraldine McEwan ("The Magdalene Sisters") and the ubiquitous Jim Broadbent, "Around the World in 80 Days") dress up the cast with their presences, but only "Cold Mountain's Eileen Atkins scores strongly as the controlling Aunt Tilly.
Witherspoon has given terrific performances before: as the ambitious political queen in Alexander Payne's "Election," the golden haired, dewy eyed sexpot in "Pleasantville" and a vengeful adolescent on the run in "Freeway."