I was not really sure what to expect from this film when I first saw it, as I settled down in my seat in the illustrious surroundings of Worthing's Connaught theatre, carefully balancing a small tub of ice cream, a box of MatchMakers chocolates and a packet of popcorn. On the one hand, the mainly British cast, crew and settings made me will it to succeed, but whenever a successful and/or critically acclaimed film or TV series appears, I have a sadistic desire to see it and hate it so that I can go around boasting that I was the only person to say that it was a complete pile of twaddle. Sadly or fortunately depending on your point of view, I cannot make this claim about Shakespeare In Love. I thought that it was fantastic.

If you wanted a review of this film in one sentence, then I would probably say that it was a bit like Romeo and Juliet as re-written by Richard Curtis and Ben Elton and filmed by the Monty Python team. But it's also a whole lot more than that. Marc Norman and Tom Stoppard have delivered witty, stylish and really quite wonderful screenplay, and for the first time in simply ages, other reviews of this film have quite rightly placed the writers higher than the director. That's not to say that John Madden has done a bad job; indeed, the production is filmed quite wonderfully. It's just that you'd have to be an absolute moron to fail with this script and these actors.

Chief amongst the fine cast are Joseph Fiennes and Gweneth Paltrow, who have just the right about of on-screen chemistry, with Paltrow delivering a spotless English accent, with not a single lapse into Dick Van Dyke terratory. Judi Dench is also superb as she continues to work her way through the great Queens of England; how long before she stars in the biography of Elizabeth 2nd? Martin Clunes is also perfect but sadly under-used as Richard Burbage, and Colin Firth brings more than a touch of the Blackadders to the part of Wessex (the first series one, before Ben Elton joined the team and the character was a bit of a wead). There is also the delight of spotting familiar faces from British television programmes in small but wonderful roles (isn't that the bloke who played Spudgun in Bottom? Hey, he was in The Fast Show! And him!). Imelda Staunton also seems to have been watching Blackadder tapes for her role as the nurse, but as that character was routed in Romeo and Juliet's nurse it's probably just coincidence. In fact, mentioning Romeo and Juliet, one could almost say that this film was simply an attempt to do a version of that play which simply has a new slant on it. Certainly, scenes from the play are carefully juxtapositioned against their parallels in the "real" events going on around them, which shows talent from John Madden, getting these bits to match well. The only slight criticism which can be launched at this idea is that people not overly familiar with Romeo and Juliet may not understand them, although it shouldn't detract from their overall appreciation of the story line. However, this film is a lot funnier than Romeo and Juliet could ever be, with more jokes then you could shake a stick at ("Follow that boat!", "I 'ad that Richard Burbage in my boat once!", the Queen and the puddle at the end, dozens of Python-esque visual gags). If this doesn't win the Oscar for Best Original Screenplay, then there's no justice in the world.

Of course, the story line is not the most fantastically original thing in the world. Aside from the wholesale borrowing of the plot from Romeo and Juliet (although this can be easily defended by pointing out that Shakespeare hardly ever made up his own plots), the idea of a woman dressing up to do a man's job has been done dozens of times before, such as in the novel Cue for Treason by Geoffrey Trease (set in Shakespeare and Burbage's theatre. Hang on a sec, in this book, Shakespeare seems surprisingly sympathetic with the cause of the girl who wants to be an actor. Did Trease know something we don't?) and also in the classic "Bob" episodes of Blackadders 2 and 4. This dressing-up-as-a-man-and-nobody-notices trick did, however, remind me of a passage I once read The Completely Useless Encyclopaedia by Chris Howarth and Steve Lyons; "Our forebears, it seems, were not only prudish about dress codes, but also stupid or blind or both. 'Hmmm, it's got long hair, a pretty face, [and] curvaceous thighs..........But hang on a mo, it's wearing pants! Must be a chap then!' We don't think so".

Some of the scenes are just sheer Monty Python sketches, especially the first one, where Henslowe is having his feet burned by his creditors ("it's a comedy", "cut off his nose", "but it's by Shakespeare", "cut off his ears as well"), as well as dozens of other instances such as the p1ss-pots narrowly missing people, "that woman is a woman!" and so on. But this only adds to the fun of the whole thing

Despite the going-on of Shakespeare and Marlowe, by far the most promising playwright character in the film is the young John Webster ("I liked it when she stabbed herself"). Seeing his character portrayed here has made me curious to see some of his apparently bloodthirsty work.
Altogether, I thought that this was a hugely enjoyable film, one that had the visual gags and plain storytelling to appeal to a mass audience, the sophisticated with a deeper scripting to appeal to the upper set and a general feel of quality that has something for everybody. A true gem, spoiled only a touch for me by the slightly ambiguous ending, which I thought was something of a cop-out. Still, no production is perfect, and where would I be if I didn't have something to complain about? I don't want to make the mistake of praising this as a great British film, as it's not, the $25 million budget having been put up by Miramax, but the British cast show that there is a lot of acting talent outside of Hollywood. Joseph Fiennes will soon be perhaps even more well-known than brother Ralph, and Martin Clunes should now land some bigger roles.

If only there were more films like this, instead of those loud and shallow Hollywood action/adventures that for some reason seem to dominate the box office these days.

Recommended:
Yes

Viewing Format: VHS
Video Occasion: Fit for Friday Evening
Suitability For Children: Suitable for Children Age 13 and Older