By Chlotrudis Independent Film Society
Rating: 3.5 cats
Director: Douglas McGrath
Starring: Charlie Hunnam | Christopher Plummer | Jamie Bell | Stella Gonnet
Country: germany, netherlands, united_kingdom, united_states
Year: 2003
Running time: 141
IMDB: http://us.imdb.com/Details?0309912
Laura says: “When an idealistic gentleman of little fortune dies in rural England, his nineteen year old son is left to fend for himself as well as his mother and younger sister. They travel to London to engage the aid of Uncle Ralph (Christopher Plummer), but find the cold-hearted opposite of his brother. Ralph’s actions separate them, but the resourceful young lad embarks on an epic journey to reunite and expand the family of NICHOLAS NICKLEBY.
“Director Doug McGrath (EMMA)has pared down the gargantuan Charles Dickens novel to a feature film length (130 minutes) which focuses on the stories of Nicholas and his Uncle Ralph and set it back twenty years to 1830 to make use of the Industrial Revolution as a backdrop. The results are thoroughly entertaining and often surprisingly funny, although Charlie Hunnam (ABANDON) is bland as the totally good Nicholas and his romance with Madeline Bray (Anne Hathaway, THE PRINCESS DIARIES) is too abruptly handled to inspire a rooting interest.
“As Ralph sends his mother (Stella Gonte) and sister Kate (Romola Garai) out to do seamstress work, he dispatches Nicholas to make his living as a teacher at the bleak and squalid boys’ orphanage run by Wackford Squeers (Jim Broadbent, MOULIN ROUGE) and his wife (Juliet Stevenson, EMMA). Appalled at the mistreatment and injustice he sees there, Nicholas befriends young Smike (Jamie Bell, BILLY ELLIOT), a crippled boy enslaved to the Squeers. Fearing for Smike’s life, Nicholas takes the lad and runs off to find a new life.
“They’re given aid by a man delighted to hear that Squeers has been had, (whom they later discover is Squeers’ son-in-law) and then run into Vincent Crummles (Nathan Lane, LOVE’S LABOUR’S LOST), the cheerfully delusional owner of a traveling performing troupe. Although Nicholas proves a profitable Romeo, Crummles doesn’t keep the lad from continuing on his way when he learns via letter that Uncle Ralph has been practically pimping his sister as business bait with the horrid Sir Mulberry Hawk (Edward Fox, THE IMPORTANCE OF BEING EARNEST). The duo return to London and the charmed Nicholas lands a dream job with the Tweedledee and Tweedledum-like Cherryble brothers (Timothy Spall and Gerard Horan) who are not only generous but know the whereabouts and circumstance of the young woman Nicholas is smitten by.
“As Nicholas begins to right his family, including Smike (who holds a secret torch for Kate), his uncle’s valet Newman Noggs (Tom Courtenay, LAST ORDERS) points Nicholas toward information that will unveil a terrible family secret and find Ralph a shattered man.
“Everything is quite black and white in NICHOLAS NICKLEBY which is peopled with the goodest of good and villainously evil characters. While Hunnam isn’t a strong lead, the delights of NICHOLAS lie in its (mostly) exceptional supporting ensemble. Kudos to the wildly inventive casting which includes Barry Humphries (aka Dame Edna) as Mrs. Crummles! Christopher Plummer finds both the coldness and emotional awakening of Uncle Ralph, a forerunner to A Christmas Carol’s Scrooge, although not a man left as happily. He’s beautifully paired with Tom Courtney, a comic delight as his shifty valet. Another pairing that enthralls is the deliciously evil Squeers couple, with Broadbent playing Wackford with a twisted air of something that’s almost gaiety while Stevenson gives his Mrs. the aura of an S&M Mistress. Along with their children Fanny (Heather Goldenhersh) and Little Wackford (Bruce Cook), they’re the Osbournes or Addamses gone bad.
“Jamie Bell has a strong sophomore outing in the physically demanding role of Smike, a darker, deeper Tiny Tim. Alan Cumming (THE ANNIVERSARY PARTY), who has become annoying of late, is back in form as Mr. Folair, the Crummles actor who spends the entire film trying to show off his highland fling. Also of note is Eileen Walsh as The Infant Phenomenon, the obviously grown up Crummles daughter kept in babyhood by her doting parents (thus completing the film’s third bizarre family).
“Cinematographer Dick Pope (ALL OR NOTHING) keeps things alternately bleak and bright, befitting the circumstance. Production designer Eve Stewart (TOPSY-TURVY) beautifully recreates the period while providing wonderful character touches, such as the Crummles’ brightly decorated wagons or Uncle Ralph’s office outfitted with stuffed birds, an elephant tusk and a skeleton. Ruth Meyers’ (THE ADDAMS FAMILY) costume design, Sarah Monzani’s (INTERVIEW WITH THE VAMPIRE) makeup and Simon Thompson’s (EMMA) hairstyles are all meticulously executed and character defining, perfectly complementing Stewart’s work.
“Doug McGrath’s adaptation of NICHOLAS NICKLEBY may not be the definitive one, but it is a fun entertainment stuffed with small dazzlers. ” 3 1/2 cats