Emma (Masterpiece Theater)

Review from The Movie Snob

Emma. When I tuned in to this PBS Masterpiece Theater presentation, I didn't realize it was going to be a rebroadcast of a 1996 version of the Austen novel. But I didn't mind when I found out it was going to star a 22- or 23-year-old Kate Beckinsale (The Last Days of Disco) in the title role. Samantha Morton (Minority Report) played Emma's friend and "project" Harriet Smith, and I didn't recognize anybody else. I could not help but enjoy it, but I must say that I liked the Hollywood version (also made in 1996) a little better. Beckinsale and Morton were fine, but Gwyneth Paltrow (Shallow Hal) and Toni Collette (The Sixth Sense) were just as good, and Jeremy Northam (The Invasion) played Knightley with much more charm than the guy in the PBS version. Look up the Paltrow version first.