Emma (1996)
Average Rating: 7.1/10
Reviews Counted: 48
Fresh: 40 | Rotten: 8
No consensus yet.
Average Rating: 7.5/10
Critic Reviews: 13
Fresh: 12 | Rotten: 1
No consensus yet.
liked it
Average Rating: 3.5/5
User Ratings: 60,160
My Rating
Movie Info
Based on the novel by Jane Austen (who in the '90s seemed to be in the running alongside William Shakespeare and Stephen King for the honors of most adapted author in Hollywood), this period romantic comedy stars Gwyneth Paltrow as Emma Woodhouse, a young woman who imagines herself an authority on matters of the heart. With the best of intentions, Emma plays matchmaker for her friends, most notably her friend Harriet (Toni Collette), who Emma links up with the Reverend Elton (Alan Cumming), and
Aug 2, 1996 Wide
Jan 15, 2002
Miramax Films
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Cast
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Gwyneth Paltrow
Emma Woodhouse -
Jeremy Northam
Mr. Knightley -
Toni Collette
Harriet Smith -
Greta Scacchi
Mrs. Weston -
Alan Cumming
Rev. Elton -
Juliet Stevenson
Mrs. Elton -
Kathleen Byron
Mrs. Goddard -
John Franklyn-Robbins
Mr. Cole -
Denys Hawthorne
Mr. Woodhouse -
Phyllida Law
Mrs. Bates -
Sophie Thompson
Miss Bates -
Polly Walker
Jane Fairfax -
Paul Williamson
Footman -
James Cosmo
Mr. Weston -
Karen Westwood
Isabella -
Ewan McGregor
Frank Churchill -
Angela Down
Mrs. Cole -
Ruth Jones
Bates Maid -
Edward Woodall
Robert Martin -
Brian Capron
John Knightley -
Rebecca Craig
Miss Martin -
Brett Miley
Little Boy -
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Emma Trailer & Photos
All Critics (48) | Top Critics (13) | Fresh (41) | Rotten (8) | DVD (8)
Suddenly you remember how merciless and cutting Austen's satire can be, even in the brutal '90s.
When the going gets tougher the film doesn't have many answers, and the odd unsettling surge of over-emphasis betrays an eye on the American market.
Gwyneth Paltrow makes a resplendent Emma, gliding through the film with an elegance and patrician wit that bring the young Katharine Hepburn to mind.
It's not difficult to enjoy the genteel amusements Emma provides even while wishing its virtues were less wholly on the surface.
Gwyneth Paltrow sparkles in the title role, as young Miss Woodhouse, who wants to play God in her own little patch of England.
Paltrow is smashing.
Perfect for warmhearted family entertainment.
This Emma is light, airy and modern -- surely Austen's funniest work.
While Sense and Sensibility loves subtlety, silence, and space, and Persuasion loves realism, repression, and understatement, Emma loves its star Gwyneth Paltrow ...
McGrath pokes gentle fun at the over-refinements of privileged gentility, though not without enjoying its trappings and honoring its best aspirations.
A good Jane Austen adaptation that can be watched over and over.
Fun, but pales next to the previous year's Clueless.
Although it is a very fine film, I found the pace a little slow in places as it wandered off the mark.
Slightly fun, but really boring.
Audience Reviews for Emma
Super Reviewer
Super Reviewer
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- Mr. Knightley: Vanity working on a weak mind produces every kind of mischief.
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- Frank Churchill: Is your horse just washing his feet or are there darker forces at work?
- Emma Woodhouse: The latter I'm afraid. Something has happened to the wheel and I cannot move.
- Frank Churchill: Well you'll just have to live here then. Bye-bye.
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- Mr. Knightley: Whom you going to dance with?
- Emma Woodhouse: With you if you'll ask me. You've shown yourself to be a fine dancer despite all your protests and it shall not be improper for us to dance. After all we are not brother and sister.
- Mr. Knightley: [laughing] Brother and sister?! No, no... No indeed we are not...
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Foreign Titles
- Emma (1996) (UK)
- Emma (1996) (CA)


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