Austenland

Austenland

Each summer, after every one of those action packed movies with computer-generated imagery have finished panting and breathing heavily in front of our eyes and ears, Hollywood remembers that women go to the movies, too, and puts out a title for discerning grown-ups. Something, if you can believe it, not based on a comic book.

Meryl Streep who as ‘‘Modern Family’s’’ Cameron observed so memorably once that ‘‘she could play Batman and be the right choice’’ has been doing most of this work lately with such warm-weather hits as ‘‘The Devil Wears Prada,’’ ‘‘Mamma Mia!,’’ ‘‘Julie & Julia’’ and ‘‘Hope Springs.’’

But this year a romantic comedy has been given to us ladies at the ticket-buying box-office who have a certain lady author addiction. Just the premise of “Austenland” might make some people faint dead away unless you wish it were called Austinland and starred Lone Star hipsters.

Instead it is a love story played out at an English country estate turned theme park, a kind of cosplay universe not unlike Westworld but dedicated to bringing Jane Austen’s early 19th-century novels (with all their societal strictures, gender imbalances and rules of courtship among Regency-period Brits) to life.

Once in Austenland female visitors pay for the chance to act as if they were sprightly heroines written by that scribe herself; complete with suitors appropriate to the era pining for them between rounds of embroidery or hunting or croquet. The aim? To meet their own version of Mr. Darcy being Colin Firth in his wet white shirt from the 1995 BBC miniseries ‘‘Pride and Prejudice,’’ or else as found more recently in 2001’s modern-day model “Bridget Jones’s Diary.”

This could be very good. But it would require a wordsmith as nimble and knowing as Emma Thompson, who won her Oscar for adapting the 1995 “Sense and Sensibility” screenplay, to pull it off and do Austen justice.

That is not this case. Filmmaker Jerusha Hess has had great success creating small, loopy insular worlds of oddball characters with her husband, Jared, in “Napoleon Dynamite’’ and ‘‘Nacho Libre.’’ This time she goes solo as director with Shannon Hale, co-screenwriter of the same-named 2007 novel upon which the film is based alongside Stephenie Meyer, producer and queen of the Twilight literary empire.

The cast is gamey if not quite gamekeepers. But only intermittently amusing results ensue that seem half-finished like many “Saturday Night Live” skits, only those mercifully last just minutes. Not helping are inconsistent dialogue (much of it ad-libbed) that comes off as desperate rather than laugh getting; or cheesy old pop songs (“Bette Davis Eyes,’’ really?) used for comic effect.

The typically welcome Jennifer Coolidge is the main culprit among the actors, once again playing a variation of a busty middle-age airhead whose sex drive knows no bounds as an obnoxious rich guest who insists on vulgarizing everything. My audience and it was an Austen appreciation society if ever there was one practically went into “squee” mode when Stifler’s mom from the “American Pie” franchise showed up.

But bless her overeager heart she tries so hard that you have to giggle sometimes all Coolidge gets to do is shout inappropriate Anglo-isms like “The British are coming!” while atop a horse or garble “right-o,” along with batting her eyes at the swains.

But Keri Russell does liven things up considerably as bright, sparkling and instantly relatable 30-ish singleton Jane Hayes, whose love life is such a mess because she’s more attracted to her life-size cardboard replica of Firth’s Darcy than any actual man. So Jane decides to live the dream and spend all her savings on a trip to Austenland.

Using Jane Seymour sums up much of what’s wrong with “Austenland.” She’s perfect as imperious Mrs. Wattlesbrook, who runs the resort where each guest is assigned a character and story line, and can easily entertain simply by hoisting a stuffed lamb while in period costume. But the movie never clarifies why she does it, or what she gets out of it (besides being hell-bent on humiliating Russell’s Jane, who made the mistake of buying a bargain package). And even though Seymour’s mistress forbids modern gadgets such as cell phones on the premises somehow glue guns are OK during bonnet-crafting sessions.

Things pick up when Jane given the fictional surname Erstwhile during her stay; that’s about as subtle as this movie gets happens upon her potential Darcy (J.J. Feild as Mr. Nobley, who benefits immeasurably from being allowed to play it straight). Also a plus is the scruffily handsome Bret McKenzie the Kiwi funnyman from the folk duo Flight of the Conchords who won an Oscar for his song from “The Muppets” as Martin, the estate’s twinkly-eyed handyman who engages in forbidden woo pitching with Jane.

Fans of anything and everything Austen might get more out of this uneven burlesque. Those who are not so forgiving will feel let down especially given that this is such a rare movie made by women and for women. As satirical romps go, well-meaning “Austenland” is simply lacking both sense and sensibility.

Watch Austenland For Free On Gomovies.