#7 on my list, Have 30 girls nights (#4)

YAY for Jane Austen!!! The 4th installment of girls night's (which included me, Kali, Maggie, Nicki, Anna, Deborah, and Sharon) had us watching the PBS adaptation of Jane Austen's Sense and Sensibility, and it was outstanding! The evening didn't really start out as a girls night since Josh and Chris decided to "watch" it with us, which really amounted to then trying to distract us from our enjoyment of watching it. So it was a lot of turning up the volume, and rewinding the TV (you gotta love DVR) until the boys realized that their attempts to thwart our fun were finally becoming futile and so the retired to Josh's room to watch a movie as well. After they left we were finally able to enjoy a wonderful re-telling of a classic romantic tale of two sisters who, in their own ways, want nothing more than to be loved and to find a husband. What's to like about it you ask? Well of course I'm going to tell you.

First of all I think the casting was much more age appropriate than Emma Thompson's version. Of course she told a beautiful story, but because she wanted to play the part of Elinor Dashwood, the casting of the mother and sister had to altered in order to fit the age requirements. In actuality the mother in the book was only in her 40's, and in the big screen rendition they had her in her 60's. The casting I thought was excellent. In the previous version, you know that Whilloughby is a scoundrel, but he's so good looking that sometimes I almost want the story to change and have Marrianne end up with him, but in this version he still plays a cad, and you can understand why Marrianne likes him so much, but you also get to see how despicable he really is, and so I'm happy that Marrianne didn't end up with him. Edward Farrows is also, much better looking in this adaptation. The actor still maintains the quiet charm of the character, but without half of the bumbling that Hugh Grant brought to the role (which quite frankly I've had enough of). The Colonel (Brandon) as well was excellently cast. He's got much more of the brooding sense of charm than the other version, and unlike the big screen adaptation he never lets you pity him, or the state of his loneliness. He just does the right thing. Don't get me wrong I love Alan Rickman's interpretation of the character, but I liked this Colonel even more (plus I think he's just hands down my favorite Jane Austen character period, so I'm not an impartial judge). I also liked the fact that we got to know more about and see more of the Farrows family, as well as the fact that the characters, especially the more ostentatious ones were not quite as comical, even though they did add comedy to the story, they didn't steal the scenes. Fanny, the Dashwood's sister in law, is deliciously spiteful, and we love to hate her.

Secondly, I liked the setting. The lighting and scenery were all set up to look more realistic than the big screen version. The lighting set a tone that was much more moody than then the other version as well, it helped to add to the sadness of the family and the precarious existence that they lived in. I always find that it including the scenery and atmosphere as a character in any movie adds to the depth of a story.

Once again it was another wonderful night with the girls. I'm so blessed to have their friendship!