Emma.

Hollywood will never be so woke that it’ll give up pursuing certain titles in the public domain. That’s how we get music video director Autumn de Wilde recruiting a beautiful young cast for yet another take on Jane Austen’s Emma. The pointedly unrepentant period piece doesn’t have the lush abandon of Sofia Coppola’s Marie Antoinette, or the knowingness of a modern Austen updating like 1995’s Clueless. There is, however, some slight revamping to stress that Anya Taylor-Joy’s spoiled Emma has to learn some meaningful lessons before getting her own happy ending. That allows additional screen time for Mia Goth, who steals the film as the latest target of Emma’s bold attempts at matchmaking. All of Mia’s castmates seem to be having a good time, too – except for poor Bill Nighy as Emma’s father, who’s stuck with providing sitcom reactions to the spirited youths running about his estate. There’s still no way that Emma. could be enlightened enough to keep critics from chiding the filmmakers for their all-white cast. (A lost production note probably asks about bringing in a guest from Indonesia.) It’s really more irritating to see a big budget wasted on such a self-conscious retelling of Austen’s classically tired tale. Of course, it’d be hard to top 2005’s Pretty Persuasion. Nobody seemed to even notice that cruel teen comedy was a bid to update Austen. The press kit should’ve provided Cliff’s Notes.

[PG]