The Misadventures Of Margaret review

American academic Margaret (Parker Posey) reconsiders her safe, married life when she starts to translate the diaries of an 18th-century philosopher. Inspired by the tales of sexual adventure, she tries to perk her life up a bit, with supposedly hilarious consequences.

The action is split between the 1700s and the present day; but because Margaret is imposing her ideas on what is in the journal, nothing is truly period, such as the philosopher seen using a computer. That in itself works well, but then director Brian Skeet decides to extract dialogue and set-pieces from classic screwball comedies to give Misadventures a similar feel. This fails dismally.

Posey, normally great as a supporting actress, flounders in the lead - even more so in comparison to Katharine Hepburn, who she is so obviously meant to be imitating.