Review of A Room with a View (1986) by Jonny P — 18 Sep 2016
A Room with a View is a classic tale where a girl meets a guy who is not her "proper" match, then the girl gets engaged to the "right sort" of gentlemen but the improper guy re-enters her life.
It's played as a rather serious period drama/romance and it features an all-star cast with names like Maggie Smith, Helena Bonham Carter, Judi Dench, Daniel Day-Lewis, and more. But there was something off about this film.
I cannot explain it, but for some reason I felt like it was a parody or spoof. With every line someone uttered in their dignified English accent I kept chuckling. Daniel Day-Lewis felt like a mocking caricature of what you'd expect from a dignified Englishman of that time period.
Also, I've seen Helena Bonham Carter in too many wacky and weird roles at this point to go back and see her as this demure young lady. At least Maggie Smith and Denholm Elliott were intended to be somewhat odd characters, so I didn't feel wrong for chuckling at them.
Setting aside this strange quirk of unintentional humor that I struggled with, the story really isn't all that strong. For one thing, the passionate romance was between 2 leads that had no chemistry whatsoever (the casting of Julian Sands was a big miss.
) While I ordinarily like this style of story, because I am a fairly sappy guy, the twists and turns aren't handled all that well in this film, and I found it largely disappointing. I'd watch it again to laugh at it, but never on its intended merits.
This review of A Room with a View (1986) was written by Jonny P on 18 Sep 2016.
A Room with a View has generally received very positive reviews.
Was this review helpful?
