Vanity Fair (DVD)

Vanity Fair... where to start? This is what you get when you take three screenwriters, three producers and a 872 page novel and try to turn it into a two hour and 20 minute film, in which substance is lost while the visual elegance remains.

Reese Witherspoon is here to play Becky Sharp, and don't think that last name isn't on purpose, as she is a quick-witted governess bound to make something of her life after she is orphaned and forced to climb the social ranks in order to make herself "somebody." Unfortunately, she has the attitude of a Scarlett O'Hara, which ultimately finds her in just as much trouble as the southern belle achieved. Her selfish pride and desire to be in the limelight finds her alienated and alone, until the most unlikely, or otherwise ridiculous ending is reached.

Where this story goes wrong is not in the acting or directing it is the fact that the storyline is slowly drawn out until it is abruptly resolved. This one should have gotten to the gist of the story quicker and delved a bit deeper into the aftermath of Sharp's decisions as opposed to letting us all in on how she got there.

Something like this always happens when you take an extremely long and telling novel and don't give it the proper amount of time to be hashed out, but then again who has the time for another four hour epic as we once did with Gone With the Wind?

Witherspoon has nailed her English accent and in her maternal stage glows on screen and she is consistently complimented by a large list of big name actors whose talents speak for themselves, but this film just can't carry the weight.

As for the DVD features this one is 100 percent aimed at the women in the audience as they set out to prove that an almost all female crew from producer to director can make a film that is loved just as much as one from the boys. Unfortunately, I don't want to hear a tale of feminism, I thought we had gotten over that after the last bra was burned, but apparently we must be reminded again.

There are also some deleted scenes, a making-of featurette and a feature length commentary track if you can handle watching the film for another two hours and 21 minutes, but my guess you won't be.

It is unfortunate this one turned out to be a bore, because if the story had been hashed out a little better it could have been a modern day classic. Skip this one if you can.