Pride and Prejudice

It seems like this is a movie that's always being remade/re-adapted. I confess ignorance as to the other cinematic versions or the original story and that might have possibly made this dollar theater experience a little better for me, since I was not comparing it to other version or the original story elements. Though some dialogue felt obviously over-literary, in which case I assumed it to be lines from the original piece. The actors did a wonderful job of not over-emphasizing such lines, like when Kiera Knightly off-handily remarks to her sister, "I could almost forgive him his vanity had he not wounded mine." There were many such instances that could have been turned into a overly dramatic, self important moment but were not. Indeed the film is a great deal subtler than I had expected. The really emphasized drama snuck up out of nowhere and caught me by surprise. Maybe that's what happens with such a famous story when it's remade so much, the director has to find new approaches for those emotional climaxes.
In any case, it work really well and never felt the least bit cheesy to me. This is a classic love story and I can see why. Kiera Knightly and Matthew Macfadyen couldn't have been better leads. Despite the fact that this is such a girly story, I would probably even watch it again. Matthew Macfadyen is also worth checking out in my favorite New Zealand film, In My Father's Den, which alas, has not received distribution in America.