Emma helmer Douglas McGrath's take on Charles Dickens' yarn is another spry literary adaptation, enlivened no end by a top-drawer cast. The novel's gallery of grotesques becomes a circus of scenery-chewers, everyone from kiddie-thrasher Jim Broadbent to board-treader Nathan Lane taking a juicy bite. Sadly, it's our hero who lets the side down: Charlie Hunnam's noble Nicholas is a beach-blond hunk of blandness.
DVD Extras:
McGrath goes solo on a no-nonsense yack-track, while the stars get down to some serious mutual back-patting in The Cast On The Cast. The Making Of is better than the norm and there's a sprint through the life and times of ol' Chuckie D. A scene-specific, multi-angle option, photo show and trailer top off a solid package; but why the Dickens is this a two-discer?
