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Starring Gwyneth Paltrow, Joseph Fiennes, Geoffrey Rush, Colin Firth, Ben Affleck, Judi Dench,
Tom Wilkinson, Simon Callow, Rupert Everett. Written by Marc Norman and Tom Stoppard. Directed
by John Madden.
Young Will Shakespeare is trying to write a new comedy Romeo and Ethyl, The Pirates Daughter but is suffering from writer's block. He is being pressured to finish the script by the owner of the Rose theatre Philip Henslowe (Rush), who is in hock to his eyeballs with a local moneylender Hugh Fennyman (Wilkinson). He attends a screening of one of his plays in front of Queen Elizabeth I (Dench), along with a young Lady Viola (Paltrow) who is already a fan of Shakespeare's sonnets, and knows his plays' dialogue by heart. Henslowe conducts auditions of local amateurs, and most are unimpressive until a young boy appears, which impresses Shakespeare so much that he chases him along the streets and across a lake to his family's castle. Will discovers that boy is actually that girl, Lady Viola. Viola becomes his muse, and the words start to flow from Will's quill. But the comedy he writes begins to turn into tragedy, as Viola is sold by her parents in marriage to Lord Wessex (Firth), a pompous nobleman who needs the parental money to finance his tobacco plantations in Virginia. Will cannot resist Viola, and they practice the play by day with the cast, and inspire one another in her bedroom by night. But, Elizabethan England did not permit women to appear on stage, so her identity had to be kept secret. A treacherous little weasel beaurocrat of the Queen's (Callow) is on their trail, and the question is whether the young lovers will be able to complete the play, as well as completing their own story. Starting off slowly, Shakespeare In Love revs up and never stops. The film is a mix of screwball comedy and classic love story. And not the sappy, manipulative kind of love story. The extremely witty script magnificently parallels the romance between Will and Viola with that of Romeo and Juliet, of how both were from two different worlds, were willing to risk all to be together but the world was against them. Much of the Romeo and Juliet play is performed throughout the movie, and quite powerfully, and the scenes consistently tie in with what's happening in the movie. There are several interesting sub-plots woven into the story, including one involving a rival playwright named Christopher Marlowe, who helps young Will flesh out a story for his play. The language used in the movie is quite Shakespearean in tone, but liberally laced with sly and humourous lines to keep things light. The direction is lively, slowing down only for occasional romantic interludes. And trust me, you won't mind the interludes. The entire cast excels from top to bottom. Fiennes, quite good as the rejected lover in this year's Elizabeth, is at his brooding best alternating between witty, passionate and athletic with equal ease. Paltrow is radiant, sexy in a regal way, and able to deliver Shakespearean dialogue with style and power - this is as good as I've seen her. And does she pull off the illusion of being a boy? Hey, she's the cutest boy you're likely to see (apologies to Di Caprio), and we are not fooled, but it works well enough in the context of a light comedy. The supporting cast is stellar. Dench is regal and wise as the strong-willed monarch who takes no crap from anybody. Rush is hilarious as the hapless theatre owner. Possibly the funniest is Wilkinson of Full Monty fame, who smoothly goes from power-tripping loan shark to stage-struck theatre enthusiast. Firth and even Affleck are assets to their roles. There are few movies this year that come close in terms of combining intelligence, depth and sheer entertainment value. My favourite this year.  
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