“Pride & Prejudice: A Latter-day Comedy” is a new twist on the classic “Pride and Prejudice” written by Jane Austen. I am a big Jane Austen fan and so I was excited to see this movie with an LDS twist to it. The movie is well-made and fun to watch.
The plot is similar to the original “Pride & Prejudice” except that Elizabeth is now a grad student at BYU and is writing a novel, which she hopes to have published. She does not have sisters; instead roommates replace them. However the characters remain the same with the awkward shy Mary, and the crazy Lydia running around. Elizabeth has a bad first impression of Darcy and does not give him the time of day. She finds out a company is interested in purchasing her novel. When she goes to meet with the editor she discovers that Darcy actually owns the publishing company. The lunch ends in disaster.
Elizabeth manages to pick herself up out of a depression and begins to move forward in her life. She meets with Darcy and begins to see him in a different light. Feelings begin to resolve themselves as the group makes an effort to save Lydia from Wickham. This is a truly funny scene, which features Jared Hess (director of “Napoleon Dynamite” and “Nacho Libre”) as the minister about to marry the two. The film resolves itself very well.
I feel that this movie does an excellent job of modernizing the story “Pride & Prejudice” while staying true to the basic plot of the original book. This is a fun film to watch, and while it is made by an LDS crew, it is not blatantly so. There are one or two humorous references to church and marriage, but everyone can enjoy it. I hope that you will take the time to watch it.