Charles Dickens often used his writings to underline the horrible conditions and mistreatment of the downtrodden in the mid-19th century. But he did it with such a raft of eccentric oddball characters that his works still entertain.
Nicholas Nickleby, published in 1839, was his third novel, following the success of Pickwick Papers and Oliver Twist. One of the main purposes of this tale was to expose the cruel conditions of a group of boarding schools for boys in Yorkshire, including one he visited where some boys had died or gone blind from maltreatment and neglect.
Thus, a central part of Nicholas Nickleby revolves around what Dickens called Dotheboys Hall (separate the first word into three and you have some idea of what he was getting at), a place run by a sadistic headmaster named Wackford Squeers (Dickens had a way with names) and his even more sadistic penny-pinching wife. Dotheboys Hall is where the high-minded, kind-hearted Nicholas Nickleby (Charlie Hunnam) has been sent by his tightwad uncle (Christopher Plummer) to become the new assistant schoolmaster after Nicholas's loving father has died in debt and left his family in ruins.
Nicholas Nickleby isn't simply Dickens haranguing against the injustices of the system, but more a melodrama about a young man who overcomes trying conditions to search for his true soulmate.
Like many of Dickens's works, Nicholas Nickleby is filled with grand melodrama and startling coincidences that give it an epic sensibility. Writer-director Douglas McGrath (who once was a writer for Saturday Night Live, in what he calls the worst year in the show's history, and who later directed Gwyneth Paltrow in the screen version of Jane Austin's Emma) has boiled down the expansive Nicholas Nickleby into a manageable running time of a little over two hours. This has resulted in heightened melodrama, while retaining the story's wonderfully oddball characters with their idiotic names (Newman Noggs, Sir Mulberry Hawk, Lord Verisopht, Mr. Pluck). They give the whole thing a carnival air, even when people are acting quite horridly.
A subtext of Nicholas Nickelby is man's inhumanity to man, but in true Dickens fashion, in the end true love conquers all and the wicked are punished most severely. It's a delicious concoction, whether Fanny Squeers is threatening to cane a boy in her care or Nicholas joins a traveling troupe of actors who quickly enlist him as their new Romeo. True to Dickens's outlandish bent, McGrath has cast the hammy Nathan Lane as the head of the acting troupe, Mr. Crummles, andDame Edna Everage as Mrs. Crummles. Everage is actually Australian actor Barry Humphries, a large man who has dressed as a woman to the acclaim of theatergoers since 1956.
On his way to saving his sweet and innocent sister Kate (Romola Garai) from the wicked clutches of the lecherous Sir Mulberry Hawk (Edward Fox), Nicholas also becomes the savior and guardian of a saintly crippled boy named Smike (Jamie Bell), who has suffered from the cruelties and indignities of the Squeerses. He also begins to fall in love with the radiant Madeline Bray (Anne Hathaway of The Princess Diaries), although in true Dickens style she has many difficult problems to overcome before she can confidently return his love.
Many of the characters in Nicholas Nickleby were prototypes for later Dickens creations. You can see the makings of Scrooge in Plummer's insensitive money-grubbing uncle and of Tiny Tim in Smike.
While the heady use of lucky coincidences and melodramatic turns seems a bit over the top these days, there's no denying this is a sumptuous production with fine cast members who make even the story's bleaker aspects entertaining. This is one where you can cheer the heroes and hiss the villains, and do so gleefully.
***1/2
Nicholas Nickleby
Starring: Charlie Hunnam, Christopher Plummer, Jim Broadbent, Anne Hathaway, Edward Fox, Jamie Bell, Tom Courtenay, Nathan Lane, Dame Edna Everage (Barry Humphries), Romola Garai.
Rated: PG, contains violence, adult themes.
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