Vanity Fair (2004)

Much as I like Reese Witherspoon and as happy as I was with her recent Academy Award, I found this heritage flick a bit of a slog.  Exactly why the Indian-American female director chose her for Becky Sharp -- the only female player amongst an all British cast -- I really don't know, unless this was in the hope of improving box office -- not that it helped.  Reese made a reasonable fist of the role, but the film was overstuffed, overdressed, and slow with it as characters came and went over some thirty years.  It was almost as if the director wished to cram in every page of the novel; and being Indian, she also attempted a touch of the Bollywoods which definitely felt out of place.  Finally I would have been very happy to be spared the unnecessary sight of Eileen Atkins' bare buttocks.