Reviews are in about Netflix’s Persuasion and they are even worse than the film itself

The reviews are in about Netflix’s Persuasion and they are… bad. When the trailer dropped for the movie adaptation, every Jane Austen fan held their books close and had hope for another retelling of yet another classic novel with just a small amount of modernity. Well, much to the dismay of Persuasion book fans, the film’s modern retelling of Anne Elliot did not sit well and if the memes weren’t enough, there are loads of reviews to back up the disappointment.

If the dire attempt at trying to make the film have a Fleabag edge wasn’t enough, these reviews will help you decide whether or not Netflix’s Persuasion is truly worth the watch.

‘Persuasion is a disastrously misguided Jane Austen adaptation’

Rotten Tomatoes critics did not hold back when it came to Persuasion, and the film has a 34 per cent ranking. One critic compared the film to a metaphorical nervous system. They wrote: “It moves and breathes. It has eyes and ears, and mouths. Yet, watch it, and you’ll feel nothing.”

Another critic put it simply and said: “This ain’t it.”

via Rotten Tomatoes

‘An all-time disaster’

The Independent did not hold back with its thoughts and dubbed the movie as a “disaster”. The critic compared the Persuasion adaptation to other Jane Austen books that have been turned into films and Netflix’s fell short. They said: “I have seen good Austen adaptations and I have seen mediocre ones, but never before has an Austen adaptation left me so emotionally hollow.”

‘There’s something so aggressively obnoxious about the way that Persuasion cribs from Fleabag’

The Guardian’s review of the film has slammed the attempt to make Persuasion similar to Phoebe Waller-Bridge’s Fleabag with the incessant use of breaking the fourth wall. The review said: “There’s no real way of knowing whether Phoebe Waller-Bridge, the star of Fleabag, has seen it yet. Hopefully it isn’t too late to stop her, because the sweeping wave of full-body horror that will overcome her within seconds of pressing play is bound to hurt.”

‘Persuasion is simply bad’

Another review by Vox, describes Dakota Johnson’s role as a “letdown”. The critic wrote: “Johnson’s easy screen presence has been the redeeming factor of many a bad movie before this one, but in the starring role of Anne Elliot, she does nothing to lighten Persuasion as it swings on its emotional pendulum from dour to dull.

“Instead, she swings at the camera with her best Jim-from-The Office smirk, as if to say, ‘Aren’t we all in agreement that this is charming?’ We aren’t.”

Persuasion is available on Netflix now. For all the latest Netflix news, drops, quizzes and memes like The Holy Church of Netflix on Facebook. 

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