If you're thinking with a groan "Jane Austen...", rest easy. Based on one of the most beloved British novels of the 20th century by Stella Gibbons, Cold Comfort Farm does, ironically, start with Ms. Austen as a jumping-off point: "I have such a lot in common with Jane Austen. Neither of us could endure a mess," proclaims Miss Flora Poste (Kate Beckinsale), our heroine, who is made of decidedly more substantial stuff than her friends in the young, awfully-awfully London crowd. Suddenly finding herself orphaned and in need of something to live on (or someone to live off, as one character comments), young Flora takes up an invitation to live with her distant relatives at Cold Comfort Farm, a dark and dank, foreboding place out in the middle of nowhere (well, Sussex...). And it is there she indulges her Austenian need to tidy things up, bringing to the household her own particular expertise in all matters -- be it personal hygiene, manners, commerce, romance, even birth control -- all the while sending progress reports back to her dear and rather odd London friend and confidante, Mrs. Smiling (Absolutely Fabulous's absolutely fabulous Joanna Lumley).

And my lord is it a motley crew, the Starkadder family at Cold Comfort Farm, whose portrayal has been designed to contrast as much as possible with the bright and bubbly London set Flora left behind. Amongst others, there's the witchy and pathologically gloomy elderly cousin Judith (the ever-wondrous Eileen Atkins), her two sons -- Seth (Rufus Sewell, who appropriately parodies his own, now well-established image as a sultry, simmering hunk) and Reuben (Ivan Kaye) -- Judith's husband Amos, a fire-and-brimstone preacher (Ian McKellen in a refreshingly underplayed performance; underplayed, that is, until his sermon scene), and of course, the family matriarch Ada Doom (Sheila Burrell) who, in connection with an old family secret, spends most of her time locked in her room yet still manages to keep an iron-clad grip on the family members. Popping up, too, in romantic pursuit of Flora, is the eccentric Mybug (Stephen Fry, different from his Jeeves but every bit as hilarious). With a seemingly naive seriousness of purpose in keeping with her youth, Flora methodically goes to work on everyone, in each case enlightening them, opening up for them unforeseen career opportunities, or otherwise exorcising their respective dysfunctionalities. And we in the audience get to see one of the more stellar British casts in recent memory, under the very assured guidance of Mr.Schlesinger, as they juggle parody, caricature and satire with a deftness of hand and lightness of touch that will leave you grinning ear to ear. It's clear they're all having a ball doing it. And you will too, watching them.