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Charles Dickens' The Life and Adventures of Nicholas Nickleby was probably something I was supposed to read at some point in high school. I have a vague recollection of taking a lengthy essay-style exam about it, anyway. Based on my extremely limited knowledge of the plot, which was probably supplied moments before the test by somebody sitting next to me, Nickleby sounded like the kind of novel I was smart to avoid.
But I'm older now. Wiser and more refined, too. When I was sent a copy of the new screen version of Nicholas Nickleby, I didn't have any 'Nam-like flashbacks to school. I watched it - the whole thing. And if I knew then what I know now, I may have given ol' Nickleby a crack. Nobody mentioned that the story was this funny and campy.
Then again, I harbor a sneaking suspicion that writer-director Douglas McGrath (Emma) gussied things up more than a little bit to keep dolts like me interested. Nickleby is still set in 19th century England where, after an Amélie-like opening narration, young Nicholas (Charlie Hunnam, Abandon) finds himself in the plush office of his disgustingly wealthy Uncle Ralph (Christopher Plummer, Ararat). Nicholas's father has just died, and what remains of his immediate family is turning to Ralph for financial assistance.
Being Dickensian and all, Uncle Dick-Bag separates Nicholas, his mother and his sister, sending our eponymous protagonist off with a one-eyed buggerer named Wackford Squeers (Jim Broadbent, Gangs of New York - which also featured a one-eyed character). Wackford runs a school for young men called Dotheboys, and he wants our Nicholas to teach there. Dotheboys, however, turns out to be little more than a prison where mistreated children are raised like veal while Squeers pockets the money earmarked for their education.
So let me get this straight: There's a guy named Wackford Squeers (go on, sound it out) who runs a place called Dotheboys (sound that out, too)? And Nicholas befriends a nubile young cripple named Smike (Jamie Bell, Billy Elliot) who he rescues while fleeing the faux school? This Nickleby thing might have more homosexual undertones than an Eddie Murphy film. And just when you think it can't get any more gay, in pops Nathan Lane, whose theatrically minded Vincent Crummles is married to a linebacker of an actress with a face that could stop a clock (Barry Humphries). They're just some of the many wacky characters Nicholas and Smite meet on the way to Nickleby's finale, which is all about the retribution.
There's more going on here, like Uncle Ralph's habit of trying to fix Nicholas's sister Kate (Romola Garai) up with society men with busy hands, and Nicholas's own romance with Madeline Bray (Anne Hathaway, The Princess Diaries). Hey - they're a pair of star-crossed lovers who each have had good television shows canceled by Fox! Still, this isn't the Dickens that you might remember reading back in the day. It's Dickens via the Coen brothers, right down to the cartoonish miser sitting behind the desk (not to mention the camera movement and production design). It's stylish, witty, packed with memorable, campy performances, and it's a whole lot of fun.
2:11 - PG for thematic material involving some violent action and a childbirth scene
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