Mundie Moms

Monday, February 10, 2014

AUSTENLAND Movie Review


On Friday night I had the chance to take part in a #Jane'sNightIn party (posted here), to celebrate the upcoming DVD release of AUSTENLAND, which hit stores TOMORROW!  I HIGHLY recommend picking it up. Get it here.

 This was the perfect girl's night in. Not only did we get to chat with Stephenie Meyer herself about the movie (see here), we had a laid back, fun filled night complete with junk food, and non stop laughs. This movie his HILARIOUS! I've not laughed this hard in a long time. 


I'm a huge fan of both Shannon Hale and Stephenie Meyer, and I feel that together these two created one heck of a fabulous movie. It is so full of their trademark snark. If you've met either of the two, you'll know what I'm talking about. Actually, you don't even need to meet Shannon to get how funny she is. Her book, AUSTENLAND, is full of comedy, and the right amount of romance. 

If you're a fan of the book, you'll love what they did with the movie. Sure they had to make some minor changes and leave a few things out, but what made it into the film was perfect! I loved the book. I felt the movie played very much like the book did. The great thing about this movie is you don't even need to have read the book to get the movie. While Jane Austen fans will love this movie, you don't even need to be an Austen fan to enjoy this. It's one of those well scripted, well casted movies and has all the makings for one those all around great movies. 

Let's talk about this cast! Wow, what a stellar cast. While Jane Seymour and Keri Russell are great, Jennifer Coolidge stole the show for me. She is down right funny. That's not to say the rest of the cast isn't, as they all are. The dynamics of the cast shine through in this movie. While the women rocked the film, the men were fabulous too! The cast was literally perfect for this movie, and I often don't saw that with a movie. There's always someone in a movie that bugs me, but not this time around. 

With a stellar cast, and fabulous one liners, Austenland is a movie worth having in your collection. To me it's one of those go to movie you'll want to watch for a pick me up, a good laugh, and when you want to watch an all around awesome movie. 

On a personal note, I have to say this. THIS IS HOW you bring a book to life on the big screen! The subtle changes that were made worked well for the movie. What this movie got right that other big movies made from books fail at, is the fact they didn't rewrite the book to make the movie. Fans of the book will enjoy every element that stays true to the book, as well as the changes that have to be made in order to bring it to life on the big screen. Having an author be apart of the movie was a huge plus. Movie fans will enjoy the movie just as much as book fans. Quite frankly, I personally feel this is by far the best book to movie adaptation I've seen yet.

*My review is based solely on how I personally felt about the movie and is not something I asked to do previewing the DVD nor was I compensated in any way for my review.

Watch my interview with Stephenie Meyer to find out more about the cast, the script, and Jennifer Coolidge's lines. Check out the trailer below:



#Jane'sNightIn LIVE Austenland Chat with Stephenie Meyer

Stephenie Meyer talks about the movie AUSTENLAND, what she's working on now, writing and more!


To celebrate TOMORROW's release of the hilarious, and highly anticipated DVD for AUSTENLAND, a movie that Twilight & The Host author Stephenie Meyer's production company, Fickle Fish Films, produced based on Shannon Hale's book, AUSTENLAND (which we here on Mundie Moms loved), a few of us blog sites were invited to be apart of the AUSTENLAND party! Our #Jane'sNightIn parties were held this past Friday, and they not only included an earlier dvd viewing party of the movie itself, but a chat with the lovely Stephenie Meyer herself!! 

THE PARTY

To celebrate the release of the DVD, we, along with a few other blog sites like Twilight Moms, Twilight Lexicon, Fangirlsh & Page to Premiere, where invited to host #Jane'sNightIn parties and chat live with Stephenie Meyer herself!!! I know! This is a girl's night that can't be topped. You can find out about the parties via Stephenie Meyer's site HERE & see some of the pics I posted from my party here on Instagram.

The Live Interview

Stephenie Meyer is one of the coolest people. Really, she is. This is not my first time talking to her, and I hope it's not my last. She is so much fun to chat with. She's hilarious, and a genuinely over all extremely nice person. I'll admit, it was a little hard to rein in my inner fangirl when it came to having face time with her. 

Here are a few of the questions I asked her, which you'll here in the video below, and a quick paraphrase of her answers. *see the video below to hear her full answers*

* Stephenie what was your favorite part from the book that made it into the movie?
SM- Filming the play. It was condescended from the book for the movie. 

* What was one of your favorite moments on set?
SM- One of her favorite things about it, was living on the estate. Walking through the English country side. Jennifer Coolidge was so funny. 

* Was there any improv or did you still to the script?
SM- There was a lot of improv. Half of what got put into the movie was half improv and half script. 

* Are you planning on making Midnight in Austenland into a movie?
SM- I would love to do if it was possible. It's my favorite book of the two novels. 

* What film projects are you working on now?
SM- Can't talk about her new acquisition. Working on Anna Dressed in Blood. Getting close to moving into production. 

Check it out!
You can watch/listen to the 20 minute interview featuring myself and two other fan sites. Please note, yes those are Star Wars sheets hanging in my background. My awesome shades fell of the window that's all I had to cover the window with, which also happened to be the best place in my house lighting wise. 


THANK YOU to Stephenie & her team, and Bekah & Nikki for inviting us to be apart of unforgettable #Jane'sNightIn!



I highly recommend picking up this DVD TOMORROW! I've not laughed so hard in a long time at a movie. This movie is HILARIOUS! Check out my review of the movie

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