Review
Review Date: 12-January-03
Spoiler Rating: Low
Juju Judgment: Just OK
Nicholas Nickleby (2002)
Most of Charles Dickens' novels are too lengthy and expansive to be readily adapted into feature-length films, but the temptation is understandable, as they teem with intrigue, emotion, humor, and fascinating characters. While some people have satisfied themselves by taking a crack at shorter works like "A Tale of Two Cities," writer/director Douglas McGrath has gone after big game: Dickens' voluminous "Nicholas Nickleby," which tells the story of a young man and his sister who suddenly find themselves adrift in a wide world full of both goodwill and malice. While the bold McGrath has crafted a fairly enjoyable film, he has not succeeded in capturing the tone, depth, or charm of Dickens' work --- both because of the short amount of time allowed to him and, it seems, because of a desire to make a movie marketable to a wide cross section of the population.
The movie follows young Nicholas after his father's death leaves him head of a small family and he is sent out by his mean and greedy uncle Ralph to seek his fortune. As in the book, his adventures lead him first to a horrible Yorkshire school, where he picks up a tragic sidekick named Smike (Jamie Bell), then to a wacky theater troupe (a little too wacky here, to be honest), and finally to the counting house of the wonderful Cheeryble brothers. Along the way, his footsteps and those of his sister Kate are dogged by the cruelty of their uncle Ralph, whose hatred for his nephew and fascination with his niece are not delineated nearly enough to match Dickens' intensity on this point. McGrath also assigns Nicholas a quest for love, presumably to add purpose to the film and to make the hero seem more interesting, especially to teens. (In the book, Nicholas' romance is more of an afterthought of the author's than a recognized goal of the story.)
While a number of the novel's many characters has been removed in the interest of time, the film still features a very large cast, which is a mixed bag. Juicy performances are delivered by Jim Broadbent as sadistic, one-eyed schoolmaster Wackford Squeers, Christopher Plummer as Ralph Nickleby, Tom Courtenay as Ralph's drunken but comically honorable clerk, and Romola Garai as Kate (although her role here is drastically reduced). I was sorry to see that McGrath made what must have been a hard decision to exclude the demd hilarious Mr. Mantalini, a role that any actor would die for, and that Nicholas' lusty, brawny friend John Browdie did not look at all as he should. But these are minor quibbles compared with the casting of Charlie Hunnam as Nicholas. While it's true that the hero himself is not the most interesting person in the novel, that doesn't excuse Hunnam's utter lack of charisma, which not even a gratuitous shot of his modern washboard abs can dispel.
All in all, "Nicholas Nickleby" felt a bit rushed to me, but that may be because I reread the book this past summer and knew well what I was missing. Judging from what did make it to the screen and the reactions of other people in the audience, this is a film that aims and largely succeeds at being an amusing, unchallenging, not-too-silly and not-too-serious bit of entertainment. Given the formidable task that McGrath set out to accomplish, it's not a bad effort, but I still think the challenge of adapting one of Dickens' larger works remains to be met.
Copyright © 2003 The Jujube (M. I. Kim). All rights reserved.
