neumu [ cinematronic ]




	Nicholas Nickleby
	Douglas McGrath Charlie Hunnam, Jamie Bell, Christopher Plummer, Jim Broadbent, Romola Garai, Tom Courtenay, Stella Gonet, Timothy Spall, Anne Hathaway, Juliet Stevenson, Edward Fox, Nathan Lane, Barry Humphries, Alan Cumming 2002		Who says a period film based on a classic of literature has to be stodgy and enervated? Director Douglas McGrath, whose movie of Jane Austen's "Emma" was sheer cheer, matches that achievement with a blithe, uplifting version of the Charles Dickens novel "Nicholas Nickleby." Nicholas (Charlie Hunnam), a benevolent, educated young man in Victorian England, encounters setbacks, but maintains his decency. His financially strapped father dies, so Nicholas, his mother and sister must leave their cozy country home for the hurly-burly of London to seek help from rich, miserly Uncle Ralph (a superbly vile Christopher Plummer). The uncle sends Nicholas to teach at a squalid boys' home run by wicked Mr. & Mrs. Squeers (Jim Broadbent, Juliet Stevenson). But Nicholas chooses to liberate the Squeers' abused servant Smike (Jamie Bell of "Billy Elliot"), and the new pals set off on an odyssey to free the Nickleby family from Ralph's dominion. With Anne Hathaway as a fair maiden, funny cameos from Nathan Lane, Barry "Dame Edna" Humphries and Alan Cumming, plus Tom Courtenay, Edward Fox and Timothy Spall. Premium cast. Good show!