Love's Labour's Lost
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DVD Cover Information
Actor: Alfred Bell, Carmen Ejogo, Daisy Gough, Richard Briers, Richard CliffordBrand: Buena Vista Home Video
DVD: Region Code 1
Audio: English (Original Language), Dolby Digital 5.1
Format: Anamorphic, Closed-captioned, Color, Dolby, DVD, NTSC, Widescreen
Picture Format: Anamorphic Widescreen, 2.35:1
Running Time: 93 minutes
DVD Release Date: 2000-12-19
Audience Rating: PG (Parental Guidance Suggested)
Studio: Miramax
Movie Reviews of Love's Labour's Lost
Movie Review: Is this a joke?
Summary: 3 Stars
I was excited to see this movie because I love Kenneth Branagh's Shakespeare movies. Unlike his others, though, I haven't read this Shakespeare play. So maybe I should have done that before I watched the movie. Oh, well, too late. The movie started out ok; a ton of dialogue about the vow the four men have taken and how serious it is. But then all of a sudden, they broke into SONG! When I realized that he turned it into a musical, I couldn't decide how I felt about it. I think it might work if the idea was really SOLD - in other words, the actors could sing and dance really well, instead of just ok singing and dances that were obviously choreographed for people who aren't dancers. This was not convincing. I still can't figure out whether Branagh was trying to pay homage to a great film genre (1930s/40s movie musical) or poking gentle fun at it. The dancing is weak, with the exception of Adrian Lester, who both sings and dances well in this film - unfortunately that just seems to emphasize how mediocre the singing and dancing of the others is. And I have no idea why a scene from "Chicago" took over the movie when the song "Let's Face the Music and Dance" came on. It really made no sense; the rest of the film wasn't that sensual at all, and there certainly wouldn't have been dancing like that in the 1940s musicals. To be frank, the musical numbers and dances just didn't flow naturally in each scene - they were awkward and not enjoyable enough to be excused for that awkwardness. Perhaps it is because generally the 1930s/40s musicals paired cheesy songs with cheesy lovey-dovey dialogue, so it flowed. Or, failing that, they used a show-within-a-show vehicle to feature the songs (think White Christmas). Maybe this could have been successful if Boublil & Schonberg (Les Miserables) had composed more serious music for it, rather than Branagh choosing to use old standards.
I watched the film to the end, because I didn't know what actually happened in the play and wanted to know. I'm still not sure I do know. We got a bunch of fake news reels throughout the movie and a whole bunch at the end, which somehow were supposed to help, I am sure, but I think they fell flat and the ending was way too rushed and abrupt. The ladies say, "oh, we have to go so the princess can be queen now that her's father's dead - wait a year for us," then there's a war, the men all fight/ladies help with the war's cause; then it's over and they are together, yippee! I don't feel like we had enough time to see the characters fall in love for real, so I didn't really care whether they got together in the end or not. And I'm sorry, but Alicia just didn't work in that princess role. She was the Keanu Reeves of the production (although not as bad as he was in Much Ado - shudder). It was very hard to get over her pronunciation and "acting". I also couldn't figure out what the point was of the following characters: the Spaniard, the country lass, Nathan Lane's character, the constable, the professor, and the reverend. I know they are in the play; but they didn't seem to have a connection to the other characters here, and I certainly couldn't understand what was going on between them. The funniest scene (at least I hope it was supposed to be funny) was when the country lass, the prof., the reverend, the constable, etc. were "dancing" - I put it in quotes because I'm not sure I'd call it that. What I did like: the costumes, the scenery. A little bit of the acting, maybe some of Branagh's lines. But even Branagh has a speech in the library which seems acted/spoken in an identical way to his soliloquy in Much Ado where he's describing the kind of woman he wants, which I found disappointing and it made me think less of him as an actor.
Watch this movie if you want to see how strange it is. I gave it three stars because it's not as though the source material is bad, and I won't throw up if I have to watch it again. It's worth a once-through if you like Shakespeare and musicals. It probably could have been so much better, though.
Summary of Love's Labour's Lost
With Kenneth Branagh (WILD WILD WEST, CELEBRITY), Alicia Silverstone (BLAST FROM THE PAST), and Nathan Lane (AT FIRST SIGHT, MOUSE HUNT) leading a stellar ensemble cast, Stanley Donen and Martin Scorsese present a sexy, glamorous, and fun 1930's-style musical that's earned terrific critical acclaim! The King of Navare (Alessandro Nivola -- MANSFIELD PARK, FACE/OFF) and his three best friends think that they've sworn off love in the pursuit of intellectual enlightenment. But when the Princess of France (Silverstone) and her beautiful attendants arrive for a diplomatic visit, their high-minded plans are turned completely upside down! Then, as war rages and secret passions burn, loyalty and devotion are tested like never before! Also featuring hilarious Matthew Lillard (SHE'S ALL THAT, SCREAM) and the classic songs of Cole Porter, Irving Berlin, and more -- go back in time and allow yourself to be swept away by this wonderfully entertaining motion picture treat!Having taken Shakespeare at his word on Hamlet (i.e., not cutting a single syllable out of a very long play), Kenneth Branagh selects a more radical approach with Love's Labour's Lost. Here the prolific director-star weeds out much of the play's dialogue and adds songs and dances of a decidedly modern bent. The King of Navarre (Alessandro Nivola, Nicolas Cage's wacko brother in Face/Off) and his three comrades (Branagh, Matthew Lillard, Adrian Lester) take a vow: no womanly distractions while they pursue their studies. Ah, but at that very moment, floating down a magical studio-built river, is the queen of France (Alicia Silverstone), accompanied by three ladies-in-waiting. You do the math. Branagh has set the tale on the eve of the Second World War, which allows for the inclusion of vintage pop songs, including "Cheek to Cheek," "The Way You Look Tonight," and a rousing chorus of "There's No Business Like Show Business," led by--who else?--Nathan Lane. The fact that most of the cast members are not accomplished song-and-dance folk is clearly meant to charm, but the results are spotty at best. Perhaps the most dynamic performer is Natascha McElhone (memorable from Ronin), whose aristocratic bearing and bottomless eyes lend a gravity to the material that is otherwise absent from Branagh's twinkly staging. The play contains some of Shakespeare's loveliest paeans to the language of love, yet Branagh seems to be in a hurry to juice everything up lest the audience lose interest. The labor shows. --Robert Horton
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