Shakespeare in Love finally made it to Blu-ray and after watching it, it’s just as good as I remembered. What an All-Star cast: Gwyneth Paltrow, Joseph Fiennes, Colin Firth, Ben Affleck, Geoffrey Rush, Judi Dench, Tom Wilkinson, Rupert Everett, and Imelda Staunton. Shakespeare in Love tells a fictional story of how Romeo and Juliet was written. Shakespeare, looking for a muse to help him write again, falls in love with Viola de Lesseps, daughter of a wealth merchant who plans to marry his daughter off to Lord Wessex (who needs the money). Viola disguises herself as a man and wins the role of Romeo. Of course, complications ensue. To really appreciate the subtleties of the screenplay, I bought and read Marc Norman and Tom Stoppard’s volume: Shakespeare in Love: A Screenplay. Amazing! If you’re a fan of Shakespeare, this movie and its screenplay will give you joy.
This was a great movie but I wonder if my evolving opinion of Paltrow might ruin it for me now. I love Jpe Fiennes and wonder why he hadn’t had a bigger career.
Julia Roberts was supposed to be the female lead, but dropped out six weeks before shooting began, Patti. Gwyneth Paltrow lucked out.
Fiennes was in the frustrating and (ultimately) annoying FLASHFORWARD, playing American. He has worked steadily sinced SHAKESPEARE in movies and theater but has not had another “big” role in a mjaor production. Gwynnie, well…I know what you mean Patti.
Fiennes made some bad choices, Jeff. He was perfect as young Shakespeare, but his range seems to be limited.
Despite winning the Oscar, I think SHAKESPEARE is a bit underrated. A fair number of people think–wrongly I believe–that SAVING PRIVATE RYAN should have gotten Best Picture that year instead.
I also wish that somebody had made a movie with Rupert Everett’s Christopher Marlowe as the lead. That could have been fun.
You’re right about Rupert Everett’s Kit Marlowe character, Drongo. Everett’s understated role could be expanded into something wonderful. As much as I admire the first 20 minutes of SAVING PRIVATE RYAN, I really find the last 20 minutes of the movie extremely annoying.
Like this movie a lot.
Watching SHAKESPEARE IN LOVE in Blu-ray was like watching the movie for the first time, Stan. It’s one of my favorites.
I watched it on either video tape or DVD, depending on when it came out, and liked it well enough, though not enough to pay the money for blu-ray. As for Patti’s comment, sometimes I think it’s a really good thing that I don’t closely follow the careers of the stars, so I have no idea who made a bad movie later, or who did a no-no, or whatever. I only evaluate them based on the film I’m watching and that doesn’t carry over to other ones. That’s why, for instance, I can enjoy Cruse in TOP GUN though I didn’t like him in many other films.
Some movies just resonate with some viewers more than others, Rick. I’m not sure I could sit through another viewing of TOP GUN.
Rick, I agree with you in principle but not in your example: I thought TOP GUN was incredibly overrated from the beginning. I have liked Cruise in certain movies (not RISKY BUSINESS, a deeply cynical movie I hated) but at this point I wouldn’t watch him in anything.
Cruise is supposed to be in another MISSION IMPOSSIBLE movie around Christmastime, Jeff. I’m a caper fan so I’ll probably see it.
OK, maybe Cruse was a poor example, but you know what I was trying to say in concept.
Yes, Rick, I got your point.