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Jane Austen gone all wrong in Lost in Austen.

I am a Jane Austen freak. I grew up dreaming of the day I met my own Mr. Darcy, debating the rakish goodness of Willoughby and Wickham (with a side of Mr. Henry Crawford, please). I will, to this day, debate the merits of Clueless as a Austonian adaptation and use it as an example of why Emma is so deliciously witty. Since I was first introduced to Pride and Prejudice at the tender age of ten, I have been the very definition of a fanatic.

So you can imagine my delight when I stumbled across a choose-your-own-adventure book called Lost in Austen (my desire to pounce the rakes led me to be labeled Kitty or Lydia, much to my dismay)and then, joy of all joys, there was a miniseries.

Amanda Price (perhaps a nod to Fanny Price?) is a girl stuck in the dreariness of everyday Londoner existence. Her boyfriend is coarse and ill-mannered (he propose marriage while drunk), and her job is dull. Most nights she wants nothing more than to curl up with her trusty copy of Pride and Prejudice, and escape into the romance of Darcy and Elizabeth, the wit of Ms. Austen, and the fine, aesthetically pleasing world of Edwardian England.

And then Elizabeth Bennet shows up in her bathroom.

As it turns out, there is a secret door in the attic of the Bennet household that leads directly into Amanda’s loo. Elizabeth’s first order of business? Tricking Amanda through the doorway and shutting it tight behind her., trapping Amanda on page one of PP.

So what’s a modern girl in her tight jeans and low cut top to do? As much as we all like to think we’d do well in Elizabeth’s place, Amanda quickly learns that the world of Jane Austin is fit for no amateur. Once over the hurdle of clothing, Amanda has to contend with a lack of cigarettes and toothbrushes, Mrs. Bennet (and this film does a fine job of showing just how irritating the woman is) and, of course, the boys.

Darcy loathes her upon first sight, but who would expect otherwise? Bingley, however, cannot see Jane past Amanda’s bizarre, out of place behavior. And when Wickham comes knocking, Amanda begins to learn that not everything in this world is as it was on the page.

Aside from Amanda “buggering up the story” as she puts it, this film flips Ms. Austen’s masterpiece on its head in a truly radical way. Lesbians, knights in rusty armor, Austonian girls gone wild and lip-gloss make this the least faithful adaptation ever (and I’m looking at you, 1999 Mansfield Park - you’ve got nuthin’ on this one). If it can twist, this miniseries wrenches it in knots with the greatest of glee until even the main character, Ms. Price, is forced to admit “Hear that sound? That’s Jane Austen spinning in her grave like a cat in a tumble dryer”.

Purists, beware: this adaptation is freakish at best. But if you’re able to enjoy poking fun at P&P (and can wrap your brain around Mr. Darcy reading a copy of the book) then you’ll get a kick out of this. It is fun, it is a little on end, and though the film doesn’t tie up every loose end and takes some fantastic leaps to close up this wacky mess in the end, it’s a good bit of fun.

Want some bonus features? You get a 40 minute featurette on the making of, and a very sassy photograph of the cast lineup, with every Austonian figure standing ramrod straight and our gal Amanda in her best red carpet pose smack in the middle, and there you are. But since this miniseries clocks in almost three hours, the one featurette is enough.

It’s a good time, even if it farts in the face of English literary tradition.

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