Shakespeare in Love

Shakespeare in Love

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Movie Reviews of Shakespeare in Love

Movie Review: An enchanting piece of fiction!
Summary: 5 Stars

The script by Marc Norman (who also served as one of the producers) and Tom Stoppard is really what makes this film come alive. Without their vision, it would have been just another romantic comedy. As it is, these writers have humanized a period so remote from ours that you feel yourself transported back to that time. They certainly deserved their Oscar.

With all the controversy at the Academy Awards that year SHAKESPEARE IN LOVE came out looking like a villian. There is no doubt that SAVING PRIVATE RYAN should have won the Best Picture Oscar. If it were possible, this reviewer would give that film TEN stars instead of the usual maximum of five. It is that much better at what it does than SHAKESPEARE.... is at what it tries to accomplish! But why bother with technicalities. The Academy has made mistakes similar to this before. Miramax, the company responsible for releasing the film bought the votes from those that would have voted for ....RYAN. For that, they were wrong. But isn't it wonderful that they had the gumption to grab this film and distribute it so it could be seen by all of us. It truly is a blessing, even if it wasn't the best film of the year.

As far as the other awards go, Paltrow definitely deserved the Oscar. Her performance of the very classy girl that falls in love with Shakespeare is at once realistic and romantic. Without overacting, she convinces you she is the girl who loves the theatre so much she would temporarily give up her own identity to participate. Judi Dench as Queen Elizabeth shines briefly but did not deserve the Supporting Actress Oscar. The role is nothing more than a glorified walk-on. The supporting actress award should have gone to Lynn Redgrave in GODS AND MONSTERS. However, nearly all the other Oscars the film won were deserved. The costumes, sets, and music score by Stephen Warbeck are excellent. Occasionally, the sound department on the film overpowers the dialogue with the beautiful music and this is a shame. Otherwise the film is technically superb.

The rest of the cast, Geoffrey Rush, Colin Firth, Ben Affleck and especially Joseph Fiennes as the love sick Will S. are perfect. John Madden directs with a keen eye for the period and setting and along with the fantastic script should be given credit for transporting the audience with a very smooth flight.

But the real beauty of the film is it's ability to make the viewer see just how down to earth and beautiful the works of Shakespeare really are. Over the years the intimidation of actors and directors alike has kept the Bard's works from reaching a wider audience, both in film and on stage. Thank goodness, we finally have a film which, without changing the works themselves, has made the playwright seem human and just as likely to flop as any have since. While it's not likely it really did happen this way, isn't it a beautifully creative way of telling the story. For that, the film is worth seeing, buying and seeing again. If you do your life will be enriched immeasurably!

Summary of Shakespeare in Love

Like Shakespeare's work itself, the film is instantly accessible to everyone, from the raucous groundlings looking for low comedy to the aesthetes hankering for some intellectual bite behind their entertainment. The way that Oscar-winning screenwriters Marc Norman and Tom Stoppard enfold their story within the parameters of Romeo and Juliet (and even Twelfth Night) is nothing short of brilliant--it would take a Shakespearean scholar to dissect the innumerable parallels, oft-quoted lines, plot developments, and thematic borrowings. And most amazingly, Norman and Stoppard haven't forgotten to entertain their audience in addition to riding a Shakespearean roller coaster. Director John Madden (Mrs. Brown) reigns in his huge ensemble with a rollicking energy that keeps the film's momentum going at top speed for its entire two hours. Along the way there are small gems to be found: Ben Affleck's riotous egotistical actor, Imelda Staunton's nimble nurse, and of course Judi Dench's eight-minute, Oscar-winning turn as a truly regal Queen Elizabeth. However, the key element of Shakespeare in Love's success rests on the milky-white shoulders of its two stars. Fiennes, inexplicably overlooked at Oscar time, is a dashing Will as we might expect him at the early stage of his career, bundled full of comedy and tragedy but unsure of how to harness his talent. And as for Best Actress winner Paltrow... well, nothing she'd done before could have prepared viewers for how amazing she is here. Breathtakingly beautiful, fiercely intelligent, strong-willed, and lovestruck--it's a performance worthy of Shakespeare in more ways than one. By the film's end, you'll be thoroughly won over--and brushing up your Shakespeare with newfound ardor. --Mark Englehart