Shakespeare In Love DVD

Advantages: Excellent Cast, Amusing
Disadvantages: Slightly Weak Plot, Slow To Get Going

...that explores the notion that Shakespeare wasn't that great a writer and was, in fact, simply a lusty man ever in search of a muse - or, in other words, a woman to lay that might, if he's lucky, give him some inspiration for a new play. I kind of like his style, actually. Trying to write "Romeo and Ethel, the Pirate's Daughter," Shakespeare - played by Joseph Fiennes - discovers he's suffering from writer's block, a phenomenon known to many of us ...
...appease both her desire for Shakespeare and the stage itself, Viola takes to the boards as a young boy and plays the part of Romeo in Will's new play. Shakespeare himself discovers quickly that this new muse has, indeed, unlocked his writer's block and he starts to write his new play, helped by the input of his financially depressed theatre owner, Hugh Fennyman (played by Tom Wilkinson) and his lead actor, Ned Alleyn, who ultimately suggests a new ... Read review

Advantages: Great for laughs
Disadvantages: Not many

...a combination of motifs from Shakespeare plays loosely knitted together around the story of how the bard (Joseph Fiennes) comes to write Romeo and Juliet, while he himself falls in love. Viola, his lover, (played by Gwyneth Paltrow) is promised in marriage to another man, Essex (played by Colin Firth); at the same time she dresses as a boy to take part in the play that Will is writing after falling for him when she sees him at court. He begins it ...
...authors (especially the Marlowe - Shakespeare motif, which will delight and infuriate some scholars!) and between impresarios (wonderfully played by Geoffrey Rush and Martin Clunes), and the inevitable impossibility of Will's love for Viola. All the characters have a comic edge to them, whether it is the nurse's ridiculous attempts to disguise Will and Viola's noisy intimacy, or the young version of the playwright John Webster who we see in typically ... Read review

Advantages: many skilled and experienced british actors
Disadvantages: not for the more serious shakespeare readers

...Juliet was written. But as Shakespeare himself said, 'the course of true love never did run smooth' and as social situation is a relatively small problem, which two lovers will eventually overcome, enter Lord Wessex, (Colin Firth) the suitor chosen by Viola's parents. Can the insufferable Lord WEssex be beaten, or will Viola have to fulfill her daughter's duty? Acting Yet again Paltrow plays an english girl, and once again is incredibly convincing. ...
...but as a reader of Shakespeare myself, I really could see no harm in it. This light romantic comedy was interesting and fun to the end, and had me laughing as they made puns involving famous phrases. Not for all, I suppose, but especially good fro us girls, who enjoy a eye full of british candy! ... Read review

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...the backlash to begin once Shakespeare In Love had netted this year’s big one. The fact remains, though, that this year’s Academy Awards was never going to be a clean sweep for one movie; and when two were so evenly matched through the previous gaggle of gong-giving, dividing the trophies up seems pretty fair. Away from the glare of mantelpiece adornments, Shakespeare In Love delivers unfailingly sparkling entertainment, from its affectionate tendency ... Read review

Advantages: Loads of great actors - play spot the cameo
Disadvantages: nothing in particular

I wasn’t sure I’d like this – I thought that all the fuss surrounding it might be just hype. However, I really enjoyed this film and it was very different to what I expected. Packed full with brilliant British actors & several pretty good Hollywood ones too, this is a light-hearted romp. There are fantastic costumes & authentic looking sets, there is a real attention to detail. It is basically a love story involving young & practically destitute ... Read review