Pride and Prejudice was twaddle. Just plain twaddle. All it needed to heighten the condescending, we-know-Americans-are-too-dumb-to-get-the-subtleties feel was a bit of Emma Thompson sobbing till snot runs down her face. A funny, scathing, romantic book, reduced to a dull, trite, bore for the non-readers.

And so it goes with Atonement. I've read (and was profoundly struck by) the book. I've seen the movie, and all I can think is that I dearly hope that someone buys the right to all of George Elliot's books before this schmaltz-master gets his hands on another classic.

Once again, your affection for Ms. Knightly is astonishing. There she is, all jaw, no charm. Blanc-mange beautiful and junkie-thin. Jarring public school accent, sallow skin, and sporty, jocular manners. Dull dull dull. Romola Garai seems like a ball of life-force compared to the ring wraith.

why this one goes by the name of candypants.

Sorry, Candypants, but please acknowledge that your snide opinion is merely that - an opinion.

In my opinion, the 2005 Pride & Prejudice was fantastic, vibrant, and yet in some ways even subtler than the source material. I can't wait to see Atonement.

...I thought it was self-evident. Ahem. Please read in the words "in my opinion" at the beginning of my post.

Especially about Kiera Knightley. I'd rather watch paint dry while listening to the sound of a cat being killed in stereo than sit through five minutes of her dead-eyed pseudo-acting.

A beautiful review of a beautiful film. Forget the Pirates of the Caribbean films; Knightley is a great actor.

come on stephanie, you're not giving me anything

Seriously, people, stop. The novel is the most pretentious, Booker-seeking cul-de-sac of calculated book-crowd-pleasing blech I've ever come across. There's a epilogue, for Chrissake. This is worth reading? This is a book? It's a book report. Authors should write books for people, not book critics.

Loved the book, but I still gotta agree with SJ. Ewan's writing is a bit self-conscious. Plus, your post made me laugh.

Have you ever disliked a film and then found yourself loathing it as others began giving it praise? I usually agree with most critics but I must say that this film was total crap and Keira Knightley is the most overrated actress since Winona Ryder or Nicole Kidman.

The film begins well and has a strong first 30 minutes. But the moment they leave the villa, the film turns into a sprawling melodrama that leaves little for the viewer to hold onto or even feel. And the ending could attached to the end of any film and had just as damp an impact.

The soundtrack was probably the worst part though I'd have to see the film again to be sure. And you can be sure that won't happen. So, I'll leave it to my initial impression and memory.

I do say one good thing about the film...James McAvoy is talented and appealing.

I hear that word and wonder if it can bring something the imagination misses. That is what keeps reading a fresh experience, the images and scenes created in mind. Moneytruck rolls up? Or are the filmmakers the novelist's biggest fans, actually who they are writing for in some cases? A better question: should everything be on the big screen?

When I heard Mike Newell was doing an adaptation of Love in a Time of Cholera I was disappointed. That is a book that should remain... a book. It works because of it's moments of devastating pauses that successfully burn the familiarity of unrequited love into your head, and it is not shown by a posture or a drawn face. The pendulous breasts swaying on the ship in the end, when they are finally reunited, thus proving the passage of time. This is most likely a triumph that cannot be captured on film.

So it is with Atonement. It is expansive in novel form. There are many films that take it to the next level or bring something new, but this talk about keeping it exactly pure and as it was intended when written? Unproductive and usually, uninteresting. At least for these distractible masses who look for something new, always something new.

Think of the best covers. Say, My Morning Jacket's Tyrone. Not at all like Eryka Badu's and that is what makes it so wonderful. Her version is great; a woman taking her stance and it means one thing. MMJ's version is entirely different and leads the listener another way. Then there are awful horrible covers or remakes. LL Cool J did a scary remix of Grace Jones's My Jamaican Guy called Doin' it, which was brutal but did well on the charts. The original should have been left alone, yet LL did quite well and no doubt Grace made out on the royalties.

It's just all becoming such rehash, it's difficult to keep up. I'll be lucky if I get to read the 7 books and 3 mags on my night stand. Maybe I'll only have time for the adaptation after all.

"But it's probably an even bigger sin when a filmmaker delivers an adaptation of a great book that isn't boring. Wright committed that alleged sin by refusing to turn Austen's extraordinary book into something slow, proper and reverent..."

Wow. What an utter misread of a book, a movie and an audience. I've neither read nor seen Atonement so I can't comment on the content here as it applies to that adaptation, but both Zacharek's praise & criticism of Wright's previous work shows a reviewer breathtakingly free of the faintest understanding of the subject matter. What Wright did was remove much of the bite of the novel & turn it into a sappy romance with a bit of social comment. How this becomes rendering it "not boring" is beyond me. As an adaptation it ranks with Zeffirelli's Hamlet for tone-deaf misuse of good source material.

Is a wholly faithful adaptation the only good adaptation? Or even always good? Of course not. But neither was what Wright did. Sticking dutifully to the original material is the safe choice. By that measure, good for Wright. He tried. And maybe he made a good movie for someone who didn't read Pride & Prejudice, or read it as a sappy romance. By any other measure it was tripe.

Go ahead. Like that movie. Don't let nay sayers like me stop you. But trying to sound superior by painting those who didn't like it as stuffy and doctrinaire really only makes you look unqualified.