YMMV / Little Women (2019)

• Alternate Character Interpretation:
  • Did Jo go after Bhaer and get married to him, or did she only write that as happening in her book? The film presents it just ambiguously enough that either interpretation is valid. It's worth noting that Jo doesn't seem too upset when she's told that the main character has to marry, giving a warm smile when she agrees to write it in. Could that be because she got together with Bhaer and while she didn't want to force her main character to marry, it ultimately reminds her of her own romance and that makes her smile? Could it be because while she's forced to change the book, she knows that her work will end up being published and that happiness overpowers her getting forced to change that part? Could it be that she didn't get together with Bhaer but still harbors affection for him and enjoys the idea of them marrying even if she herself decided against doing so in real life?
  • Since this version's Jo actually reconsiders Laurie's proposal and goes so far as to write a letter accepting it, only taking it back when she learns he's married Amy, one could interpret her turning him down to be more a matter of pride or merely not wanting things to change than not being interested in him - since she outright tried to get Meg to run away on her wedding day out of this same fear of change. She actually seems saddened when she learns he's married Amy, and just admitted to Marmee that she's lonely, so perhaps the loss of Beth also meant that she finally had a realisation.
• And You Thought It Would Fail: When yet another adaptation of Little Women was announced - especially following the beloved 1994 version, and the fact that a BBC miniseries had aired literally two years earlier - people thought it would be pointless. Some were convinced it would be Greta Gerwig's Follow-Up Failure to Lady Bird. Needless to say, it was a critical and commercial hit, with several Oscar nominations too.
• Angst? What Angst?: The scene of Amy being whipped for having limes at school is largely played for comedy here, and used to set up the Marches getting to see Laurie's house, with Amy trying to flirt with Laurie while also crying in pain from the injuries. In contrast to the book, where the incident brings the entire family together and Marmee is so disgusted that Mr Davis would strike a child that she takes Amy out of school at once, the family barely seem to care that a twelve-year-old was whipped by her teacher.
• Anvilicious:
  • Jo quotes a letter by Louisa May Alcott that sums up the thesis of the movie with the subtlty of a sledgehammer. (However, the trailers are partly to blame for this, leaving out the final line, "But I'm so lonely"):
    "Women, they have minds, and they have souls, as well as just hearts. And they've got ambition, and they've got talent, as well as just beauty. I'm so sick of people saying that love is just all a woman is fit for. I'm so sick of it!"
  • Amy's speech about marriage as an "economic proposition" is also quite anvilicious, considering what we've already learned about legal and social restrictions on female autonomy at the time. Unsurprisingly this bit wasn't in the script, and was thought up by Meryl Streep moments before it was filmed. Many viewers agree that it's a good monologue, but it should have been placed either earlier in film or instead of one of the other speeches.
  • The publisher insisting that Jo's heroine end the story dead or married is about as subtle as a sledgehammer. This did admittedly happen to Louisa May Alcott however.
  • Likewise the publisher is uninterested in Jo's manuscript at first and doesn't think anyone will want to read it. Then there's a scene where his three daughters burst into the room, excited to know what happens next. The scene is in no way subtle about the Girl-Show Ghetto.
• Award Snub:
  • As soon as the Oscar nominations were announced, some fans took to Twitter to complain about Greta Gerwig being passed over for a Best Director nomination. Others in wider circle took issue with this. (See Broken Base)
• Awesome Music: Alexandre Desplat's whimsical and enchanting score perfectly captures the feel of the story and characters effortlessly.
• Broken Base:
  • The Amy and Laurie romance continues to be divisive. Some thought this adaptation redeemed it, while others thought it made it worse.
  • Which is the better version of Little Women: this version or the 1994 version. While there are arguably many fans of the new version, some prefer the 1994 film for being more book accurate (especially in regards to the costume design and the relationship between Jo and Professor Bhaer).
  • To a lesser extent, whether Greta Gerwig actually deserved an Oscar nomination for her directing. Some feel that fans crying out that Gerwig was robbed ignored arguably more deserving female snubs; like Céline Sciamma and Lulu Wang; and are only upset on behalf of Gerwig due to her being the more mainstream choice. Some could also argue that Gerwig didn't do anything revolutionary with the story, other than the non-linear timeline and that she was overpraised due to her overenthusiastic fanbase.
  • There's also some division over the new Anachronic Order of the film. Depending on who you ask it's one of the best or worst parts of the adaptation. The former camp say it allowed the story to be told in a new, exciting way that helps set this adaptation apart from previous version. The latter camp says it was an unnecessary touch that adds very little outside of differentiating from the prior films of Little Women, and can cause slight confusion amongst viewers unfamiliar with the original story.
  • Emma Watson as Meg. To some, she was woefully out of place compared to the rest of the cast, as she is commonly associated with blockbusters and more commercial films (and her American accent is considered quite patchy). Others however enjoyed her performance, or felt that she didn't seem out of place at least.
  • While few critiqued her turn as the older Amy, Florence Pugh portraying her at the age of thirteen has caused a split. One side says the casting is distracting due to the actress being far too old to convincingly play that age. The other side agrees that Pugh playing about a decade younger is unconvincing, but forgive it due to her turning in an enjoyable portrayal anyway. This side also believes keeping the actress consistent improves her chemistry with the cast and lets her turn in stronger overall work than if a totally different actor was playing the young Amy.
• Ensemble Dark Horse:
  • Mr. Laurence ended up being pretty well liked due to Chris Cooper's warm, heartbreaking work and strong chemistry with Eliza Scanlen.
  • Professor Bhaer gained many new fans for his relationship with Jo. Which is pretty ironic considering the new ending.
• Esoteric Happy Ending: Although the film opts for an open ending, leaving it unconfirmed whether Jo did marry Professor Bhaer, neither option is particularly happy if you think about it. If Jo doesn't marry him, she had literally declared to Marmee earlier in the film that she was "so lonely" and wanted to reconsider Laurie's proposal, clearly wanting companionship of some kind, so even if her book is a success, she's still alone (Jo of the book didn't necessarily hate the idea of marriage itself, but merely feared the loss of her independence and too much changing in adulthood, all of which were solved by finding her perfect intellectual match in Friederich). But if she does marry him, this film has largely skipped over the development of Jo's romance with Friederich, and her family push her into it, giving the impression that if she did marry him, it wasn't fully her choice.
• Hollywood Homely: In spite of being played by Saoirse Ronan, Jo describes herself as "homely" twice.
• Hype Backlash: As noted under Broken Base, Greta Gerwig's direction. With so many people claiming her snub was a crime and due to sexism, plenty of viewers walked away saying that while her work was certainly strong, her snub isn't that bad, especially considering the many other acclaimed directors - male and female - who were similarly snubbed that season.
• Memetic Mutation: Laurie's dejected "And I'll watch" has become a meme indicating that the poster is interested in watching something, usually an upcoming work of fiction.
• Misaimed Fandom: As always, there several viewers who say that Jo should've gotten together with Laurie; even though the film makes it explicitly clear that Jo doesn't love him.
• Narm Charm: As mentioned under Questionable Casting, Florence Pugh is very far from convincing as a thirteen year old, but most viewers are fine with it since Pugh nevertheless gives a great performance.
• Older Than They Think: Greta Gerwig intentionally wanted to parallel Jo with Louisa May Alcott - hence the metatextual scenes of the publisher discussing how the story should end. This was previously touched on in the 1994 version, where Jo's characterization was tailored to more closely resemble the author's. This post explains it further.
• Questionable Casting:
  • Some thought that Emma Watson stuck out in a cast otherwise filled with much more prestigious, critically acclaimed actors. She also looks as young or younger than the likes of Saoirse Ronan and Florence Pugh, despite playing the oldest sister.
  • Florence Pugh's work was acclaimed and got her an Oscar nomination, but many found her playing Amy at the age of thirteen laughable, given she's nearly a full decade older and has a voice that's noticeably quite deep. Others however have felt that she seems like the wrong choice to play a character who wants to be a Proper Lady, and seems to be a better fit for Jo (although Saoirse Ronan was widely agreed to be great in that role).
  • Laura Dern + Bob Odenkirk = Four daughters don't look remotely like family....
• Rescued from the Scrappy Heap: For over a century readers have resented Amy for her bratty behavior as a child, and for supposedly "stealing" Laurie from Jo. However, Florence Pugh's Oscar-nominated portrayal of Amy has been particularity well-received. While not much about her character was changed, the film puts a bit more emphasis on her, both as a Foil to Jo and as a complex woman in her own right. It helps that due to the Anachronic Order, she is first introduced as a mature, intelligent adult, therefore leaving a better first impression, and her relationship with Laurie is given more focus; not to mention Child Amy also gets some of the funnier scenes in the movie.
• Strangled by the Red String: Some didn't see much in the way of chemistry between Florence Pugh as Amy and Timothée Chalamet as Laurie. There are those who thought the latter seemed too aloof and apathetic during their scenes together, with others believing their positive interactions are too few and far between in comparison to their arguments for them to look like a happy couple.
• They Wasted a Perfectly Good Character:
  • Marmee is largely Demoted to Extra in this version, despite a talented actress playing her, and doesn't get moments that her literary counterpart gets - such as explaining to Jo that she used to be very much like her, and it was in marrying her father that she found someone who understood her and helped calm her Hair-Trigger Temper.
  • Friederich gets very few scenes, and the movie eliminates many moments that endear him to Jo in the book and other adaptations, such as his talks on philosophy with the other boarders, his and Jo's intellectual discussions, and his encouragement for Jo to write more authentically to herself. His critiques on her stories are turned into him bluntly saying he doesn't think they're good, and Jo storming away, without much effort put into emphasising why she might fall for him.
• Tough Act to Follow:
  • The 1994 film adaptation set the bar very high (a 92% adaptation), so another theatrical film had the odds stacked against it. However this ended up averted, with Greta Gerwig doing her own spin on the story, and several incarnations of the characters that were considered better or equal to previous versions.
  • This was also Greta Gerwig's second film after her Sleeper Hit that was Lady Bird (which has a whopping 99% rating on Rotten Tomatoes). A month after its release, Little Women was getting great reviews, so it seems this is subverted too. Reception wasn't as strong, but it was still strong enough to avoid this trope.
• Unintentionally Sympathetic: Meg and her wealthy friends during the debutante ball scene. Meg borrowing an expensive dress and acting like a Princess for a Day is meant to come across as her changing herself to fit in, and Laurie calls her out on this. But her friends never act all that shallow—in fact, one of them tells her to keep the dress—and the outfit isn't really that tacky compared to what everyone else is wearing. The fact that Meg eventually names her daughter Daisy, which was her friends' Affectionate Nickname for her, also makes their friendship look genuine, not skin-deep or shallow.
• Unintentionally Unsympathetic:
  • Despite being her Love Interest, Laurie frequently acts like an ass towards Amy for no good reason. He stands her up, humiliates her at a party, and condescendingly judges her for marrying for money, stuff he never did in the book. All of this comes across as much worse when you remember he never treated Jo in such a rude manner while they were together, which can only feed into Amy's thoughts about him settling for her.
  • Amy is also made a huge Adaptational Jerkass in many scenes when she's supposed to be a child, such as being shown maliciously burning Jo's manuscript one page at a time, cruelly gloating to her about it, saying she wanted to hurt Jo, and being cajoled into apologising in the first place, with Florence Pugh delivering the apology as though she isn't really sorry. This is in huge contrast to the previous film, where Amy is in tears as she apologises and later helps Jo rewrite it. This version's Amy also laughs cruelly at Meg when Jo burns her hair off, whereas the 1994 film's immediately offers to help her cover it up with a bow. The Anachronic Order structure also means that Amy never seems to actively try to become a better person.
• The Woobie:
  • As in every other version, poor Beth applies. She's already sympathetic based on her shy, timid nature alone, but watching her struggle with her health in a battle is heartbreaking, especially since she and her family know she can't win it.
  • Mr. James Laurence applies as well. Chris Cooper plays him in a way where you feel an inherent sadness and regret present, which makes much more sense when you know his backstory, and how he pushed his child away when he disapproved of his romance, with his son and daughter-in-law dying not long afterwards, and his beloved granddaughter dying some time later. When he meets the March family, Mr. Laurence goes on to become close with Beth, treating her with parental affectation. When she dies he's shown to be in mourning, with Jo finding him wandering around her house, causing Laurence to confess that he wants to go in and grieve with the family, but he's in too much pain to do so.
  • Jo also applies. Shortly after having her heart broken by when her sister dies she breaks down and cries about how lonely she feels, getting to the point where she seriously considers marrying Laurie even though she herself is aware that she doesn't actually love him, wanting to do so only to alleviate her feelings of isolation.
• WTH, Costuming Department?: Even though the film won the best costume design Oscar, it's been criticized for its wildly inaccurate costumes, even given the benefit of creative liberty:
  • The girls wear seemingly new cotton dresses during the parts that take place in the war, even though there was a cotton shortage and there's no way for them to have gotten new ones made.
  • None of them wear hand-me-downs, from each other or from Marmee even though given their financial situation, they would in real life.
  • The wrong silhouettes are worn in both of the timelines (i.e. hoopskirts are being embraced in the second timeline when the should be being worn in the first one; bustle skirts were more fashionable in the second era.)
  • They never wear bonnets and wear their hair down, when they should be wearing them with their hair up. Marmee's obviously dyed hair also sticks out like a sore thumb.
  • At least one scene has Amy wearing modern Ugg boots. Uggs were first popularized in the 1960s and 70s as part of Australian surfer culture, a mere 100 years after the film is set.
  • Laurie is also given so many baggy clothes even in scenes where he's older that he continues to look like a teenager throughout both timelines.

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