Rita Stevens

What an amazing combination of excellent casting and... uh, not so much. Marianne and of Willoughby made me think of a high school production -- small enrollment high school -- where there was only one girl and only one boy who were capable of learning the lines, so they got the parts by default. Marianne simply wasn't physically believable and neither was Willoughby. And the chemistry between them seemed flat, despite the heavy breathing scene with the kiss. ... Because two major adaptations of Sense and Sensibility have been made in the past 30 years, it's impossible not to compare them. Despite the 1995 movie version being shorter, it didn't seem to leave much out of the story that this longer 2008 TV production included. Emma Thompson's tight award-winning screen play made maximum use of every movie minute. ... Some of the other casting for this TV production was exceptional: Elinor and Mrs. Dashwood in particular. In both versions, those were strong performances, with spot-on casting. But if I had to choose one over the other, it would be this one, despite the excellence of Emma Thompson and Gemma Jones in those roles in the movie. ... More comparisons: the country setting of the 1995 version struck me as more authentic, but the cottage interior of this version seems completely genuine. (Those low doorways must have bumped a few heads.) And of the closing scenes to reassure us that marriages have indeed taken place, I found this version's more satisfying, although I wish the editing had allowed a few more minutes.