Word: harriet
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Dates: during 1990-1999
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...when Ozzie and Harriet were the model of how American lives were organized, the folks on the beach weren't much interested in family values. They were sometimes called beach bums. In fact, I just realized what the inventors of beach volleyball would not have been: Republicans...
...into production over the past few years. The objective was to target aging baby boomers, who presumably need entertainment that could include their kids. But as quantity increased, quality declined, and now Hollywood has a glut of wholesome movies that aren't performing well. This summer saw Kazaam, Pinocchio, Harriet the Spy and even Flipper drown at the box office. "Hollywood happens to work in cycles," says Chris Meledandri, who runs Fox's family film division. "You watched that young-skewing movie cycle burn out before your very eyes." And the problem isn't just quality: last year, despite critics...
...movie preserves the book's plot and the setting, as we are supposed to tell from the print ads where Emma (Gwyneth Paltrow) elegantly raises a cup as if in a coffee ad. As all you Austen fans know, Emma tries to mastermind a match between Harriet Smith (Toni Collette) and the clergyman Mr. Elton (Alan Cumming), but then gets somewhat of a surprise herself. Mr. Knightley (Jeremy Northam), Emma's governess (Greta Scacchi), Mrs. Elton (Juliet Stevenson), and so on--all take their respective places...
...weakened challenges of this movie version, as Emma attempts to maneuver them as carefully as pieces on a chessboard. That part of the entertainment doesn't disappear: we watch Emma think she's doing all right, while actually falling prey to subtler subversions. Only Toni Collette as Harriet Smith mixes far too many portions of foolishness and idiocy with the easily influenced callowness her character demands...
...Emma Woodhouse, matchmaking is a higher form of gossip. As her vague father (James Cosmo) looks on, Emma schemes to convince gawky Harriet Smith (Toni Collette) that her destiny lies not with a simple farmer (Edward Woodall) but with the smarmy Rev. Elton (Alan Cumming). She also hopes to land handsome rake Frank Churchill (Trainspotting's Ewan McGregor) for herself. With other pretenders and poseurs intervening, it takes Emma the whole film to realize that she has been blind to the perfect match for herself: her brother-in-law, the kindly Mr. Knightly (Jeremy Northam...