The writing and editing aren’t up to the task of retrofitting Alcott’s straightforward narrative with a sophisticated chronology and rob it of dramatic tension in the process. While the book and other adaptations proceed chronologically, beginning with the sisters as girls and growing up with them, Gerwig’s film jumps forward and backward in the Marches' lives, revealing early the story’s surprising third-act developments. One way in which Gerwig distinguishes her adaptation is by getting fancy with the timeline. Pugh’s Amy does the most growing up, and one might argue Pugh should have instead been cast as Jo Ronan does lovely work, but everyone’s favorite sister ends up feeling a little flat in comparison to Pugh's transformative work. Fresh off her mesmerizing and emotionally raw performance in this year’s “Midsommar,” she transforms bratty and much-derided Amy into the most complicated and sympathetic March sister. On the other end of the spectrum, Timothée Chalamet continues to assert himself as our inevitable millennial heartthrob as romantic neighbor boy Laurie, burning with swoon-worthy unrequited love for Jo. Scanlen may well have been a very fine Beth, but she simply isn’t given anything to do, and her's character’s arc, so affecting elsewhere, fizzles here. Watson tries to add depth and dimension to poor overlooked Meg, but her efforts are undermined by her breathless and rigid line delivery she’s simply diminished by the superior acting around her. “Little Women” is handsome and heartfelt, and doesn’t much make a case for the necessity of its existence beyond the pleasures of itself, which are inconsistent in substance and style.
There’s bookish and headstrong tomboy Jo (Saoirse Ronan), nearly every reader’s favorite domestic and compliant eldest sister Meg (Emma Watson) gentle and sickly Beth (Eliza Scanlen), the pet of the family and vain and artistic baby sister Amy (Florence Pugh).
The basics remain the same: The four March sisters come of age in Concord, Massachusetts, under the loving guidance of saint-like Marmee (Laura Dern) while their father helps the Union in the Civil War. The conversation may not surprise, but that’s what makes the company a warm comfort. Watching Greta Gerwig's 2019 “Little Women” is like visiting an old friend for tea. Perhaps it felt due for a refresh, even though Gillian Armstrong’s 1994 adaptation starring Winona Ryder remains beloved. Louisa May Alcott’s cherished work of feel-good Americana and celebration of sisterhood has resonated with readers since its publication in 1868, and with moviegoers since the silent-film era, so much so that we remake it once every generation or three. View Gallery: Little Women 2019: What Greta Gerwig gets exactly right