Cast delights in ‘Becoming Jane;' plot is just plain

On my last day in South Africa, I had hours to spend before our bus took us to the airport and not much money for shopping, which seemed to be the focus for most of my fellow travelers, so I decided to take in a movie. Having already seen “The Bourne Ultimatum” and 99 percent of all the other movies showing, I was limited to “Becoming Jane,” a film for which I had an interest since I am a big fan of Jane Austen's novels and many of the films based on them. I can say I was grateful for the nearly two-hour diversion, since I longed to be on my flight and back home, but “Becoming Jane,” while pretty to watch and well acted, dragged through a tale not totally unlike one of the famed author's novels.