PERSUASION (C-minus) - Hey, I like Dakota Johnson, OK? This film may be an unnecessary and too-cheeky adaptation of Jane Austen's classic novel, but it zips along on Johnson's charm up until its trite, predictable ending.
I'm sure there are folks out there who still stew over the idea that 1995's "Clueless" was a shallow desecration of a beloved landmark of literature, and those types will probably be appalled at the self-aware "Fleabag" style of this Netflix production. As is the custom these days in TV shows -- damn you Ricky Gervais and the original version of "The Office" -- Johnson's Anne Elliot not only narrates directly into the camera but she also throws conspiratorial side glances toward the lens, mostly to convey her ironic exasperation at those around her. She gives not only Phoebe Waller-Bridge a run for her money but Susanna Hoffs, as well. It's surprisingly endearing in the end.
And that endless appeal of Johnson is what saves things here; everything else is pretty ridiculous. Anne is supposed to be distraught eight years after, having bowed to pressure (persuasion) from family and friends, and dumping ruggedly hunky seaman Wentworth (puppy-eyed Cosmo Jarvis). She swills wine from the bottle like a desperate soccer mom, but the filmmakers can't be bothered to make Anne's heartbreak convincing, and so there is little foundation to support this Readers Digest version of Austen's novel.
But, OK, it's Dakota Johnson wearing couture dresses and slinging a decent British accent, and we know a love triangle will develop eventually (it takes halfway through the movie for the plot to truly ripen). Wentworth is back in town, and the tables have turned -- he is a heroic naval captain, while the Elliots (led by their vain and silly patriarch, played to the hilt by Richard Grant) are having financial difficulties. But also swanning through the town of Bath is a distant cousin, Mr. Elliot (chiseled Henry Golding), a happy widower who also has designs on Anne.
In classic cheap-TV-Cinderella fashion, we're supposed to believe that Anne's two sisters are eminently more desirable than dumpy Anne (Dakota Johnson dumpy?!). Sure, whatevs, as the early 19th century millennials might have put it. (The dialogue here is annoyingly, self-consciously modern, with Anne gushing over "a ten" and swooning over a collection of sheet music that constitutes a lover's "playlist." Wink-wink.) Jarvis can be quite the big lump, but you just have to go along with the fiction that Anne and Wentworth are willing to pass up a second chance at true love by playing a game of rom-com chicken. Golding is an off-key ham as the Shallow Hal.
This all trots along efficiently at under 110 minutes. And there is spirited support for Johnson from Mia McKenna-Bruce as Anne's petulant sister Mary (though she went heavy on the accent to the point that I needed subtitles to translate) and Nikki Amuka-Bird as Anne's second mom, Lady Russell. It's all a matter of tolerance for the viewer while observing that every generation gets the Jane Austen adaptations it deserves.
BONUS TRACK
From the final scenes and end credits of "Persuasion," the lovely "Quietly Yours" by Birdy:
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