Nessieldwi Very interesting film. Was caught on the premise when seeing the trailer but unsure as to what the outcome would be for the showing. As it turns out, it was a very good film.

Matrixiole Simple and well acted, it has tension enough to knot the stomach.

SanEat A film with more than the usual spoiler issues. Talking about it in any detail feels akin to handing you a gift-wrapped present and saying, "I hope you like it -- It's a thriller about a diabolical secret experiment."

Mischa Redfern I didn’t really have many expectations going into the movie (good or bad), but I actually really enjoyed it. I really liked the characters and the banter between them.

jillmillenniumgirllevin The presence of Marc Blucas (known in Buffyworld as "Old Potato Nose") makes this film inferior to any Merchant/Ivory production and most of Masterpiece Theatre. Blucas is always a block of wood, and here, with his corn-fed voice and face, is severely miscast. As always, Bill Nighy is wonderful — endlessly interesting during his too-brief appearances. We believe in his dedication to his art — if he could only practice it — and in his rage at himself as failed writer, failed husband, and failed father. The young women are negligible: is the tired diary-narrative convention meant as the writer's coming-to-art? If so, she needs lessons in plot- and character-construction. Two young women, two young men: It worked for Shakespeare, but despite the presence of the eponymous castle, helps neither the screenplay nor us. Isolation and shabby gentility relieved by marriage; writer's block relieved by a silly strategy unworthy of Nighy's character and performance? I watched for Nighy (as I watch Love, Actually); he's the brooding presence throughout the film, but notwithstanding, I'd like my two hours back.

ianlouisiana Bill Nighy should be taken to one side and quietly warned that his eccentric English bloke persona is in danger of wearing out its welcome. Henry Thomas should never have been allowed to act in another movie after "E.T."Romola Garai at 21 was more convincing as a 17 year old than any 17 year old could possibly have been.Those were my initial reactions to "I capture the castle".It would be very ordinary stuff indeed without the remarkable Miss Garai as Cassandra,middle child of an "artistic" family living in a rented tumbledown castle.Bill eccentric English bloke is the father, a "one book" writer living apparently on fresh air,two years behind with the rent and inventing all sorts of excuses for not settling down with his typewriter. Two rich young American brothers(Bugatti owners to boot) fall within their orbit and Cassandra's older sister sees them as a way out of poverty.Cassandra herself,with all the intensity of a sensitive young girl,falls in love with the one Rose seduces. Set in the less than egalitarian mid - thirties the film plays up the lifestyle Rose is determined to win for herself(and,by extension,her family)against the genteel but dirt - poor existence they presently enjoy. Tara Fitzgerald graces the film in the unappreciated stepmother role she is surely too young for. Cassandra learns some of life's more important lessons at the expense of a bruised heart,and since she is the only truly sympathetic character in the cast it's all a bit unsatisfactory,but there's no denying the film's overall charm despite the deeply uncharismatic American contingent. Miss Garai's ability to portray vulnerability,confusion and adolescent despair lifts the movie into a class above itself. I hope she doesn't become enmired in a long - running TV series that would blunt her intensity and dull her appetite at the same time as it enhanced her bank account - but that's just selfish,isn't it?

Flagrant-Baronessa In the picturesque 1930's English countryside "I Capture the Castle" tells the story of an eccentric family in a decrepit, murky and leaky old castle that is now a shadow of its former majestic self, as is the father of the family. Their financial and romantic struggles are sewn together by an apt narrative by its lead character Cassandra (Romola Garai) who is the youngest daughter in the family. The film is adapted from the same-titled cultish novel by Dodie Smith and it is glaringly apparent that the latter is interwoven with classic Jane Austen elements: class struggles, layered characters, English landscapes – and one heck of a high-spirited and likable heroine, Lizze Bennet-style.Yes, the film wholly belongs to Romolai Garai who portrays this heroine with remarkable sweetness, honesty and selflessness. Although there is a wealth of intrinsically 'good' characters to be found in the story, Cassandra is unmistakably the most likable one and indeed she propels the film with her warm, caring charisma. It is a damn shame the unspeakably talented Romola was not showered with awards for her unrivalled performance. Billy Nighy also chips in as the father of the family – a failed writer who suffers from chronic writer's block and is moody and self-indulgent because of it. Yet he moves away from the Nighy-like acting of "charming prat" here and instead hands in a bruised, broken and tragic performance. The conflict emerges with the blossoming of Rose (Rose Byrne), the oldest sister. She is the official family beauty and selfish on the surface, desperate to marry so she will get away from the miserable old leaky castle and escape into wealth. In a time of social climbers, Rose is a mountaineer. So naturally when one night two rich and eligible American bachelors (and brothers) set foot in the castle, she takes her chance. Cassandra forever takes a backseat to her older sister, but remains kind and happy for her nonetheless.When Rose starts climbing the social latter, the financial constraints of the family are eased, but is she truly willing to marry only for money? 'I Capture the Castle' explores this question through the perspective of Cassandra as she writes her 147 pages of musings. It often offers delicate and classy humour in the juxtapositions of the seedy, drafty castle life with the glossy upper-class dinners at the American brothers' estates and indeed the whole film is peppered with light-hearted comedic situations and crafted with humorous, charming strokes. Yet it needs to be said that were it not for Romola Garai as the spirited tomboy Cassandra, the castle would have fallen apart – literally and figuratively.There is that unmistakable romantic angle to every element of the story – never chick-flicky but always love-oriented – that renders I Capture the Castle a pleasant Austen-diversion. Hard-boiled attention-deficit action-viewers, you have been warned.8 out of 10

Alea Intrica I was quite pleased for much of the movie. Some of the acting (especially the Cotton brothers) was weak, but most of the castle family was good. Things were going very well and then the screenwriter made that most fatal error of judgement: presuming they can write it better than the author. I think good novel adaptation requires great self-discipline (even self-abnegation) and self-expression is very hard to suppress. This screenwriter should have been suppressed by a thick layer of quick-drying cement. Even the book brushes the limits of what's bearable near the end, but it maintains its charm and is a fine novel. The screenplay overwrites much of the humour and charm with heavy-handed dramatic scenes, unleashing an orgy of tearful, confessional encounters. Worst of all, it betrays the novel deeply by buying into the very psycho-babble that the author delightfully mocks. Terribly disappointing after a decent start. I give it a tolerable rating because, viewed as a romantic comedy independent of the book, it compares fairly well with others in the genre. It still has some good scenes and Cassandra is, for the most part, very well played. The setting is also quite good and much as I had imagined it.