Huievest Instead, you get a movie that's enjoyable enough, but leaves you feeling like it could have been much, much more.

Dynamixor The performances transcend the film's tropes, grounding it in characters that feel more complete than this subgenre often produces.

Ogosmith Each character in this movie — down to the smallest one — is an individual rather than a type, prone to spontaneous changes of mood and sometimes amusing outbursts of pettiness or ill humor.

Rio Hayward All of these films share one commonality, that being a kind of emotional center that humanizes a cast of monsters.

dunbare I have read the book and the movie is quite faithful. The story is about a girl Cassandra (ROmola Garai) who is living in a rundown English castle with her eccentric family. There is her materialistic, selfish and beautiful sister Rose (Rose Byrne), her chicken feathered hair little brother Thomas, her Bohemian stepmother Topaz and her once sensational father (Billy Nighy)**********SPOILERS***********************The story of the Mortmains is that father was a successful writer who wrote a novel Jacobs Wrestling that was particularly a splash in America ( there are a lot of comparisons to English and American customs). The father Mortmain takes his young family to live in a castle for creative purposes. In flashbacks we see Mortmains fall when the unfortunate Cake knife incident occurs causing his incarceration and his lack of writing. Their mother passes on and we see the Mortmains living in romantic poverty with Topaz acting as mother.The Mortmains life take a different turn when the arrival of landowners Neil and Simon Cotton arrive. They are brothers who now own the quaint little castle and are American. Rose and Cassandra immediately hatch a plan to capture Simon as Roses husband. As Topaz puts it "those boys are very taken with you Rose." This is Topaz observing the Cottons first encounter with Rose. As the girls become more and more successful hearts will be broken.This movie really is one big tragic love triangle. Simon falls in love with Rose and marriage is proposed. Neil is quite hostile towards Rose and sees her as a gold digger (she is). Cassandra meanwhile realizes she loves Simon and is disgusted by her sisters love of peach colored towels, bluebells, and fancy dresses. Rose is not in love with Simon. The story is even more complex in that Rose ultimately weds Neil the brother she does love! To make matters worse Simon is still in love with Rose and Cassandra is in love with Simon!Cassandra herself is pouring her broken heart out to her ever adoring servant boy Stephan. Stephan was the son of the Mortmains maid when they could afford one and stuck around after his mothers death. He has always adored and loved Cassandra. He is by far the most handsome of the men in the film and it is painful to watch his face crumble when Cassandra tells him she does not love him. This film is about love and broken hearts as all have their hearts broken Cassandra, Stephen, Simon and even Topaz and Father. The only ones who have any kind of happiness are Rose and Neil two of the least sympathetic characters in the story.1. Topaz was the character I liked least. She looked nothing at all like the one described in the book. Topaz was said to have skin so white it was like she belonged to a new race ( This is set in the 30's before tans when pale skin was popular). Her hair was very fair almost white. The woman who played Topaz while certainly eccentric looked a little old ( I believe Topaz was around 28 or 29) and did not have either of the physical traits Cassandra described so beautifully in the book.2. Stephen should have been played up a lot more. The actor who played him certainly had the physical attractiveness of Stephen and the sensitivity, but he was adored by many young girls. It should at least have been hinted at more how desirable the girls Cassandras age found him and how she did not seem to care. Stephen himself did not seem to care about it either.3. One of the saddest scenes is the Pagan rites when Cassandra realizes she will never share the same home as Rose again. It was a bit bittersweet and one of my favorite scenes.This was a charming little film that I really liked. While not totally accurate to the book it comes very close and even if your a loyal fan of the book the movie may be a pleasant surprise.

Flagrant-Baronessa In the picturesque 1930's English countryside "I Capture the Castle" tells the story of an eccentric family in a decrepit, murky and leaky old castle that is now a shadow of its former majestic self, as is the father of the family. Their financial and romantic struggles are sewn together by an apt narrative by its lead character Cassandra (Romola Garai) who is the youngest daughter in the family. The film is adapted from the same-titled cultish novel by Dodie Smith and it is glaringly apparent that the latter is interwoven with classic Jane Austen elements: class struggles, layered characters, English landscapes – and one heck of a high-spirited and likable heroine, Lizze Bennet-style.Yes, the film wholly belongs to Romolai Garai who portrays this heroine with remarkable sweetness, honesty and selflessness. Although there is a wealth of intrinsically 'good' characters to be found in the story, Cassandra is unmistakably the most likable one and indeed she propels the film with her warm, caring charisma. It is a damn shame the unspeakably talented Romola was not showered with awards for her unrivalled performance. Billy Nighy also chips in as the father of the family – a failed writer who suffers from chronic writer's block and is moody and self-indulgent because of it. Yet he moves away from the Nighy-like acting of "charming prat" here and instead hands in a bruised, broken and tragic performance. The conflict emerges with the blossoming of Rose (Rose Byrne), the oldest sister. She is the official family beauty and selfish on the surface, desperate to marry so she will get away from the miserable old leaky castle and escape into wealth. In a time of social climbers, Rose is a mountaineer. So naturally when one night two rich and eligible American bachelors (and brothers) set foot in the castle, she takes her chance. Cassandra forever takes a backseat to her older sister, but remains kind and happy for her nonetheless.When Rose starts climbing the social latter, the financial constraints of the family are eased, but is she truly willing to marry only for money? 'I Capture the Castle' explores this question through the perspective of Cassandra as she writes her 147 pages of musings. It often offers delicate and classy humour in the juxtapositions of the seedy, drafty castle life with the glossy upper-class dinners at the American brothers' estates and indeed the whole film is peppered with light-hearted comedic situations and crafted with humorous, charming strokes. Yet it needs to be said that were it not for Romola Garai as the spirited tomboy Cassandra, the castle would have fallen apart – literally and figuratively.There is that unmistakable romantic angle to every element of the story – never chick-flicky but always love-oriented – that renders I Capture the Castle a pleasant Austen-diversion. Hard-boiled attention-deficit action-viewers, you have been warned.8 out of 10

Alea Intrica I was quite pleased for much of the movie. Some of the acting (especially the Cotton brothers) was weak, but most of the castle family was good. Things were going very well and then the screenwriter made that most fatal error of judgement: presuming they can write it better than the author. I think good novel adaptation requires great self-discipline (even self-abnegation) and self-expression is very hard to suppress. This screenwriter should have been suppressed by a thick layer of quick-drying cement. Even the book brushes the limits of what's bearable near the end, but it maintains its charm and is a fine novel. The screenplay overwrites much of the humour and charm with heavy-handed dramatic scenes, unleashing an orgy of tearful, confessional encounters. Worst of all, it betrays the novel deeply by buying into the very psycho-babble that the author delightfully mocks. Terribly disappointing after a decent start. I give it a tolerable rating because, viewed as a romantic comedy independent of the book, it compares fairly well with others in the genre. It still has some good scenes and Cassandra is, for the most part, very well played. The setting is also quite good and much as I had imagined it.

tjm225 ...set in the 1930s in the English countryside. The young protagonist, 17 year old Cassandra, sets down in her diary her thoughts and adventures growing up in a bohemian family living in a rented castle. Her father is a novelist who has suffered writer's block and whose declining fortunes have reduced the family to a bare pantry existence. Relief comes in the form of two American brothers who inherit the land on which the castle sits. Cassandra's slightly older sister Rose sets her sights on landing one of the brothers as a husband, and a lot of romantic complications follow. The film has many strengths, and a few weaknesses. The strengths include the beautiful photography and winsome performances by the actors who play Cassandra and other members of her family. The main weakness is some uneven pacing which makes the film stumble along in parts. However, the characters are well drawn and likable, and the film has a commonsensical ending which rings true.