Cinema Hype

After all of this pirate talk, I’ve been thinking a little about Keira Knightley. She’s one of those actresses: young, obnoxiously thin, beautiful, sweet but slightly airy on Letterman. There are, it seems, a lot of people out there who don’t like her for exactly those reasons, for being a perfectly un-bookish casting choice for Elizabeth Bennet, and for generally acting in a bland but starletty manner.

I see why, sort of. But I just can’t bring myself to dislike her.

I’ve been trying to figure out what it is that makes her appealing. I’m pretty sure it’s not her acting; she’s too self-conscious onscreen to be really natural. I’d place her in about the same dramatic class as Kirsten Dunst, who has a similar manner and drives me crazy with all of the smirking and weird vocal tones. Maybe it’s the movies she chooses? I do love Bend It Like Beckham, and Pride and Prejudice was fine, and obviously there’s the Pirates trilogy. I can’t stand Love Actually as a whole (I know. Please don’t take away my Female Gender membership card), but I don’t mind her in it. Who knows? Maybe I’m shallower than I thought, and she’s just very, very pretty. It’s hard to say.

I’ll report back after I’ve had a little Keira Knightley film festival. Maybe Elizabeth Bennet and an L.A. bounty hunter will have something to reveal.