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Before
I start, I would like to state for the record that I saw this movie
before it won the Oscar for Best Picture. Ask my
mom if you don't believe me - she went with me.
OK, on
to the show. This movie stars Joseph
Fiennes as William Shakespeare, Gwyneth
Paltrow as Viola de Lesseps and Gwyneth Paltrow's breasts as, well,
Gwyneth Paltrow's breasts. I only mention them because they were featured
prominently in the film, and yet based on her outfit on Oscar night,
seem to have run away from home. Perhaps they were on a location for
a shoot. Or maybe they were staying home protesting the ceremony because
they were not nominated for an award, kind of like Leonardo
DiCaprio did last year.
Anyway,
back to the film. Young Will Shakespeare is a struggling playwright
who has yet to have a big hit, or find a patron. (Obligatory history
lesson based on my fuzzy recollections of my Elizabethan and Jacobean
drama class in college: In England during the aforementioned eras, the
arts were subsidized by wealthy aristocrats or the state. To be successful
and not have to do physical labor for a living, playwrights had to attract
a patron to pay for their expenses, thus allowing them full time to
write plays.)
Shakespeare
has promised to write a new comedy for one of the local theater owners,
but he suffers from writer's block and is not inspired. Enter Viola
de Lesseps, a beautiful wealthy young woman with a love for the stage.
At the time, women were not allowed by law to be actors, as it was considered
improper. Viola decides to dress as a boy so that she can appear in
Shakespeare's new play, and also begins an affair with Shakespeare,
which inspires him to write the play that became "Romeo and Juliet".
This film
was a lot of fun. That's about all though. Being a former English major,
I did enjoy some of the "inside" jokes about Christopher Marlowe
(a wonderful Rupert Everett) and John Webster, as well as some of the
purposeful anachronisms (such as Shakespeare lying on a therapist's
couch). Many of the throwaway lines in the beginning of the film were
actual lines from Shakespearean works as well.
But even
if you aren't a geek like me, and didn't catch some of the references,
I think you would still enjoy the film. The costumes are beautiful and
Judi Dench puts in a masterful performance as Queen Elizabeth (I don't
know if it was Oscar-worthy, since she was only on screen for 8 minutes,
but what do I know?). Ben Affleck, as an egotistical actor, was surprisingly
effective, although every time he appeared on screen I kept expecting
him to say, "Duuuude!" because he looks like such a frat boy.
This is
not a can't miss film - but if you are looking for a little humor, a
little romance and a lot more of Gwyneth Paltrow than is probably necessary,
check out Shakespeare In Love. I give it a 7 out of 10.
NEW:
My mom has weighed in with her views - she gives it a 7 out of 10 as
well. However, my mom doesn't see many movies. Witness our conversation
while waiting in line for a ticket.
ME: What
was the last movie you saw in a theater? It's been a while hasn't it?
MOM: Whatever
it was, I saw it with you. I know - it was that movie about the football
player and the agent.
ME: The
Last Boy Scout? (I thought she meant agent as in spy or something
- like secret agent). I don't think I've ever seen that movie.
MOM: No,
you know the one.
ME: Well,
who was in it?
MOM: I
don't remember. You know..."Show me the money!" (She kind
of yelled this as I recall.)
ME: Ohhh...Jerry
Maguire! That's right.
MOM: Yeah,
Jerry Maguire.
And Jerry
Maguire came out in 1996, so it all goes to show that my mom doesn't
have a lot of points of comparison. She said she didn't think she was
going to like the movie in the first half hour, but then as it went
on, she really liked it. The moral of the story is: stick the movie
out if you aren't immediately drawn in, and I'm turning into my mother
more with each passing day. I didn't know where I got the habit of trying
to make other people guess what I am talking about based on obscure
clues, and now I do. Thanks, Mom! |