Pride & Prejudice: A Latter-Day Comedy, released on DVD as just Pride & Prejudice, is a 2003 American romantic comedy directed by Andrew Black. The film is an updated adaptation of Jane Austen's Pride and Prejudice which takes place in Provo, Utah.
Elizabeth "Lizzy" Bennet is a college student who studies literature at Brigham Young University. She lives with her roommates Jane Vasquez, Lydia Meryton and her younger sister Kitty, and Mary. She's interested in Jack Wickham and goes to a party to see him. Fitzwilliam "Will" Darcy tells Elizabeth that he finds her "strangely attractive", though Elizabeth writes him off as too arrogant.
This film contains examples of:
- 555: The phone number on Charlie's infomercial is 1-888-555-3498.
- Adapted Out: Mr. and Mrs. Bennet, Lady Catherine and her daughter Anne, Mrs. Gardiner and her children, Colonel Fitzwilliam, and Mr. and Mrs. Hurst do not appear.
- Adaptation Name Change: Darcy's younger sister is named Georgiana in the original story; here, it's Euphemianna.
- Adaptation Relationship Overhaul:
- Mary being in love with Mr. Collins is a common fan interpretation of the original novel. Here, it's much more explicit, and they end up together in the end.
- Elizabeth and Wickham already know each other before Elizabeth meets Darcy and are on flirty terms. However, Elizabeth seems much more initially aware of Wickham's deadbeat tendencies than she did in the original novel, where it wasn't until hearing Darcy's side of the story that she seriously suspected anything wrong with Wickham.
- Adaptational Alternate Ending: Lydia and Wickham do not get married in this version, meaning both end up happier than they did in the original.
- Adaptational Attractiveness: In the original novel, Mary is described as the plain girl among the five. Here, she's
Hollywood Homely at worst, and succeeds at attracting Collins once she gets an Unnecessary Makeover and loses her glasses. - Adaptational Backstory Change: In this version, Darcy and Wickham didn't grow up together.
- Adaptational Early Appearance: Elizabeth and Wickham already know each other before Elizabeth ever meets Darcy.
- Adaptational Heroism:
- Elizabeth is much more supportive of Mary in this version than in the novel, backing her up during her embarrassing singing at Bingley's party, then later helping her pursue Collins.
- In the original, one of the reasons why Elizabeth rejected Darcy the first time was because he convinced Bingley to separate from Jane. Here, Darcy never objected to the pairing. Bingley sees Collins proposing to Jane and decides to leave on his own, meaning Darcy had nothing to do with the breakup and Elizabeth's accusations just came from prejudice.
- Very downplayed, but in the original, Wickham attempted to elope with Darcy's sister in an attempt to either ruin her and Darcy or else get part of Darcy's fortune. Here, while Wickham still has the womanizing, gambling, and general sleaziness of the original, and took advantage of Anne for her money, at the very least his elopement had nothing to do with specifically trying to damage her and Darcy's reputation.
- Adaptational Karma: In the original novel, Caroline Bingley's only comeuppance is knowing Darcy married Elizabeth instead of her. Here, Caroline marries a 75-year old billionaire with a heart condition... and he ends up living another 18 years and fathering three children with her.
- Adaptational Villainy: Caroline in the original novel was a False Friend to Jane who schemed to break her up with her brother Charles, but while she was a rival with Elizabeth for Darcy's attention, her actions never extended beyond general nastiness. Here, with Lady Catherine being Adapted Out, Caroline takes her role as the person directly trying to stop Elizabeth from marrying Darcy, complete with flat-out lying that she's engaged to him in order to get Elizabeth to back off.
- The Big Damn Kiss: Elizabeth and Darcy get one at the end of the movie.
- Bill... Bill... Junk... Bill...: Elizabeth narrates a flashback of her past horrible dates. Too tall, too short, actually her second cousin, illiterate, etc.
- Book Ends: The film starts with Elizabeth introducing her roommates in narration, and it ends with the same song and a "Where Are They Now?" Epilogue.
- Celebrity Paradox: Elizabeth is seen attending a lecture on Jane Austen at the beginning of the film. Does the original Pride and Prejudice story exist in this universe, then?
- Chekhov's Gun: The Classics for Canines infomercial warns that "certain tracks on Wagner for the Vicious can trigger vicious violent behavior in German Shepherds". Charlie uses one of these CDs to make the police canines go crazy, allowing Darcy to escape.
- Demoted to Extra:
- Charlotte, Elizabeth's best friend in the original novel, is reduced to just an acquaintance of Elizabeth's with a handful of scenes, and it is Mary, not her, who ends up marrying Collins.
- Mr. Gardiner is Elizabeth's uncle in the original novel, plays the role of Only Sane Man, and helps rescue the family from scandal by overseeing Lydia and Wickham's marriage, with Darcy's help. Here, he's just Elizabeth's boss.
- Elopement: Lydia and Jack go to Las Vegas to marry.
- Embarrassing First Name: Due to the Setting Update, "Fitzwilliam" is now a name which Darcy finds embarrassing.
- First Guy Wins: Played with. Darcy is the first guy the audience sees, but Elizabeth already knows Wickham and Collins before she meets him.
- Friendly Tickle Torture: Elizabeth and Jane do this to Kitty to get her to tell them where Lydia and Jack went.
- Gender Flip: The famous opening line of the original novel is turned around so that it's saying surely any woman must be in want of a husband.
- Gilligan Cut: Jane tells Elizabeth they should stop for gas, but Elizabeth insists they'll be fine. It soon cuts to the car's riders pushing it to a gas station.
- Heartbreak and Ice Cream: Elizabeth and Jane both gorge on ice cream after Elizabeth storms out of a dinner with Darcy, and Jane gets an email from Charlie saying he's going scuba diving at a remote location. Elizabeth has a dream where she and Jane die from an ice cream overdose, and they go to the store to get more ice cream.
- Hollywood Tone-Deaf: Mary's singing is terrible.
- Indulgent Fantasy Segue:
- Elizabeth has a fantasy in which she throws a book at Collins, who was talking about her over the pulpit, and everyone bursts into applause.
- Elizabeth has another one after she tells off Will Darcy for insulting her while critiquing her book, where she throws the water in her glass at him. Instead she spills the glass and trips over a table.
- Instantly Proven Wrong: Inverted. Darcy says most of the girls at the party can't even form complete sentences. Charles pushes back against him, but then two girls pass by speaking Valley Girl.
- Internal Homage:
- Elizabeth's address is 318 Longbourne Ave., while in the book her estate is Longbourn.
- The radio is on 181.3 The Juice. "181.3" references the date the Pride & Prejudice book was published, and "The Juice" was an
abbreviated production title for the film. - The restaurant Elizabeth and Darcy attend is called Rosings, which in the book is the estate of Darcy's aunt Lady Catherine de Burgh.
- Lydia and Kitty's last name, Meryton, is a reference to the fictional town near the Bennett's home in the original novel.
- Lydia and Jack elope to get married in a Scottish-themed chapel in Las Vegas. In the book, they go to Scotland to get married more quickly.
- Karma Houdini: With a little help from a female guard, Wickham escapes prison and pursues a career in day-time television in Brazil.
- Most Writers Are Writers: Elizabeth is an aspiring author.
- Mythology Gag: Jane mentions offhandedly that Collins is spending time with Charlotte, a reference to how they get married in the original novel.
- Race Lift: Jane, due to being Argentinian.
- Setting Update: This movie takes place in Provo in the early 2000s, while the original book is set in 18th century England.
- Shout-Out: The scene where Darcy is driving to Las Vegas is shot as a tribute to the opening sequence of The Prisoner.
- Shown Their Work: In addition to the entries for Internal Homage and Mythology Gag listed above, the film frequently uses actual quotes from the book (complete with citations) as title cards for segments of the story.
- Side Effects Include...: The Classics for Canines infomercial warns that "certain tracks on Wagner for the Vicious can trigger vicious violent behavior in German Shepherds". See the Chekhov's Gun example above.
- Unrelated in the Adaptation:
- The Bennett sisters of the original novel are all now roommates; only Lydia and Kitty are still siblings, and Lydia is now older than Kitty.
- Mr. Gardiner is Elizabeth's uncle in the original novel, but just her boss here.
- Vanity License Plate: Lydia's car has the license plate "BOY CRZY".
- "Where Are They Now?" Epilogue: The ending tells what happens to most of the characters.
