Nicholas Nickleby, Charles Dickens' epic 1839 novel about an honest and honourable young man trying to make his way in the cruel Victorian world of England, has now been re-made by Americans as a less-than-epic morality movie.
Writer-director Douglas McGrath, a Texan, has been highly selective in plucking out what he needed for the shortish film.
He emphasizes friendship and romance and pumps up the humour to leaven the dark, brooding elements.
Trouble is, what McGrath and company have done -- however noble their intentions -- is tedious, plodding and unimaginative. And his varied American, British, Australian and Canadian cast members seem to be making different movies simultaneously instead of one whole with a consistent tone and point of view.
Some roles, such as Jim Broadbent's psychotic schoolmaster Wackford Squeers, are overplayed so enthusiastically they seem like cartoon characters.
Others, such as Jamie Bell's unfortunate and tragic Smike, are played with such dour determination that they are bores.
Christopher Plummer, Tom Courtenay, Edward Fox and others in key support roles are competent, yet they seem to work at cross purposes.
Then there is Charlie Hunnam, who stars in the title role, looking all blond and beautiful but pretty shallow.
The best bits in the movie all belong to Nathan Lane and Barry Humphries (Dame Edna Everage) as Mr. & Mrs. Crummles.
The Crummles run a theatrical troupe, which includes an aging lothario actor named Mr. Leadville (who is also played by the delightful Humphries, this time dressed as a man).
Young Nicholas Nickleby and Smike hook up with the troupe after slipping out of the prison-like school run by the Squeers.
For a short time, they are part of the troupe.
Humphries, of course, lets his outrageous alter ego Dame Edna seep into his portrayal of Mrs. Crummles.
But the joke inside the movie does not involve a man playing a woman in drag.
This is supposed to be a woman -- and the playful Lane treats her as a fully-fledged wife, however much of a dingbat she is on screen.
These exchanges are actually so good, especially in contrast to the dry Dickensian social stuff paraded on screen, that you're left wishing the whole movie was about the Crummles and not the Nicklebys.
(This film is rated PG)
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