The Personal History of David Copperfield (2020)

Film: The Personal History of David Copperfield (2020)

Stars: Dev Patel, Jairaj Varsani, Aneurin Barnard, Peter Capaldi, Morfydd Clark, Daisy May Cooper, Rosaling Eleazer, Hugh Laurie, Tilda Swinton, Ben Whishaw

Director: Armando Iannucci

Oscar History: No nominations

Snap Judgment Ranking: 3/5 stars

Jane Austen, William Shakespeare, & Charles Dickens.  Three of England's finest authors that are perpetually brought to the big-screen.  One oftentimes wonders when encountering a recent iteration of their works (and if you go to movies regularly, encountering them is pretty much inevitable), what more there is to say?  Even for me, who loves Charles Dickens & in particular loves the story of David Copperfield (for my money his second best book after Great Expectations), I wonder going in whether or not there's more I can find out about the story.  In Armando Iannucci's film, I don't always know if they're totally justifying trudging a familiar tome once again to the big-screen, but the film has enough pleasant humor & good-natured acting so you don't need to question too harshly whether it deserved going into the Dickens' canon once more.

(Spoilers Ahead) I mean, you know this story right?  David Copperfield (Patel as an adult, Varsani as a child) is a young boy who lives with his mother (Clark) and is raised by his nanny Peggoty (Cooper), but his childhood is upended when his mother marries the vicious Mr. Murdstone (Boyd).  David is sent to work in one of Murdstone's factories, living with the dodgy Mr. Micawber (Capaldi), and after his mother's death, eventually goes to live with his wealthy, eccentric Aunt Betsey (Swinton), and her unusual companion Mr. Dick (Laurie).  Aunt Betsey comes to finance David going into proper society, where he can become a gentleman.

These are the facts of David Copperfield, which Iannucci sticks pretty faithfully toward, even if he takes some liberties with the casting & costuming choices.  Obviously the biggest decision in the film is the color-blind casting of Dev Patel as the lead, which I think is welcome (they do this on Broadway all-the-time...David is a fictional character, why not try a different interpretation of him?).  Patel has kind of come into his own since Lion a few years back as one of the internet's collective boyfriends, and indeed he is sexy & adorkable as David.  I'm still not entirely convinced he's a particularly good actor, but instead just a winning screen presence, but charm is always a welcome addition to a film, and he has loads of it.

The sets, costumes, & hairstyling are lovely, and the film has some great British humor.  Both Laurie & Swinton stand out as having strong chemistry, and seemingly being born to play these parts (the movie honestly justifies itself just by having these two onscreen together).  The story of David Copperfield is too long for a two-hour movie without severe trimming, and this film doesn't do that.  As a result, we get short shift on some of the romance of David's life, and the film doesn't quite know how to make its leading man woo the ladies.  But this is a pleasant movie, and a welcome diversion if you need a lift from some of the drearier pictures of 2020.