Shakespeare in Love
Academy Award × 7
Rent/Purchase
Young William Shakespeare is forced to stage his latest comedy, 'Romeo and Ethel, the Pirate's Daughter', before it's even written. When lovely noblewoman Viola de Lesseps auditions for a role, they fall into forbidden love — and Shakespeare's play finds a new life (and title). As their relationship intensifies, the comedy soon transforms into tragedy.
What critics thought
Greeted on release with near-universal enthusiasm, Shakespeare in Love wins critics over with its witty, anachronism-aware script and its genuine romantic warmth — a rare period comedy that earns both its laughs and its heartbreak. Paltrow's performance drew particular attention, with many arguing she anchors the film's more fanciful conceits. The one persistent reservation, voiced even amid praise, is that the film is essentially a clever remix of Romeo and Juliet rather than anything truly original.
“Gwyneth Paltrow, in her first great, fully realized starring performance, makes a heroine so breathtaking that she seems utterly plausible as the playwright's guiding light.”
Janet Maslin·The New York Times
“The contemporary feel of the humor (like Shakespeare's coffee mug, inscribed 'Souvenir of Stratford-Upon-Avon') makes the movie play like a contest between Masterpiece Theatre and Mel Brooks. Then the movie stirs in a sweet love story, juicy court intrigue, backstage politics and some lovely moments from Romeo and Juliet... Is this a movie or an anthology? I didn't care. I was carried along by the wit, the energy and a surprising sweetness.”
Roger Ebert·Chicago Sun-Times
Genres
Comedy, Drama, History
Cast & Crew
DirectorJohn Madden
StarringJoseph Fiennes, Gwyneth Paltrow, Geoffrey Rush, Tom Wilkinson, Judi Dench
ComposerStephen Warbeck
Shakespeare in Love
Academy Award × 7
Young William Shakespeare is forced to stage his latest comedy, 'Romeo and Ethel, the Pirate's Daughter', before it's even written. When lovely noblewoman Viola de Lesseps auditions for a role, they fall into forbidden love — and Shakespeare's play finds a new life (and title). As their relationship intensifies, the comedy soon transforms into tragedy.
What critics thought
Greeted on release with near-universal enthusiasm, Shakespeare in Love wins critics over with its witty, anachronism-aware script and its genuine romantic warmth — a rare period comedy that earns both its laughs and its heartbreak. Paltrow's performance drew particular attention, with many arguing she anchors the film's more fanciful conceits. The one persistent reservation, voiced even amid praise, is that the film is essentially a clever remix of Romeo and Juliet rather than anything truly original.
“Gwyneth Paltrow, in her first great, fully realized starring performance, makes a heroine so breathtaking that she seems utterly plausible as the playwright's guiding light.”
Janet Maslin·The New York Times
“The contemporary feel of the humor (like Shakespeare's coffee mug, inscribed 'Souvenir of Stratford-Upon-Avon') makes the movie play like a contest between Masterpiece Theatre and Mel Brooks. Then the movie stirs in a sweet love story, juicy court intrigue, backstage politics and some lovely moments from Romeo and Juliet... Is this a movie or an anthology? I didn't care. I was carried along by the wit, the energy and a surprising sweetness.”
Roger Ebert·Chicago Sun-Times
Genres
Comedy, Drama, History
Cast & Crew
DirectorJohn Madden
StarringJoseph Fiennes, Gwyneth Paltrow, Geoffrey Rush, Tom Wilkinson, Judi Dench
ComposerStephen Warbeck
Rent/Purchase