One Day: Anne Hathaway's 'wobbly' British accent

One Day, the new film adaptation of David Nicholls' widely cherished bestseller, follows the friendship-turned-romance of two Brits over the course of 20 angst-filled years. The movie stars Anne Hathaway as the prickly but loyal Emma, and it's the Oscar-nominated actress' questionable Yorkshire accent — not the film's actual merit — that's making headlines. (Check out her efforts in the trailer below.) Following Hathaway's widely-criticized turn hosting the Academy Awards in February, is this dialect distraction yet another embarrassment for the actress?

This American doesn't cut it: Hathaway's casting prompted early worries that she was "not British enough" to play Emma, a beloved fictional character, says Caroline Frost at The Huffington Post. Unfortunately, "the accent is as wobbly as everyone has feared." It veers wildly from "wartime-BBC to proper 'Eeee by gum' clangers,'" and is so distracting that "I actually forgot to cry." Any British actress passed over for the role should feel justly embittered.

"Film review: One Day, starring Anne Hathaway, Jim Sturgess, based on David Nicholls' best-selling novel"

Subscribe to The Week

Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.

SUBSCRIBE & SAVE

Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters

From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.

From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.

Sign up

Actually, she sounds perfectly fine: So much for the "pre-release skepticism," says Nick Curtis at the London Evening Standard. Hathaway's stab at the Yorkshire dialect sounds "credible" to a "cloth-eared southerner" like me unfamiliar with the nuances of the accent — as most audience members will be. Certainly, it's "more convincing than [co-star] Jim Sturgess' odd channeling of Pierce Brosnan's voice for Dexter." And Sturgess is an Englishman, born and raised.

"One Day — review"

There are bigger problems than her accent: "I'm not of the no-American-can-play-a-Brit" camp, says Lisa Schwarzbaum at Entertainment Weekly. It's easy enough to get past a wonky accent, but the problems with Hathaway's casting run deeper. Her "rangy American gameness, big smile, and shining good health" are the complete opposite of the physical and psychological attributes that make Emma's transformation from awkward duckling to beautiful, confident swan believable and moving. In every way, it's a casting misfire.

"One Day review"