'Shakespeare in Love' a merry olde farce

12/17/99- Updated 01:35 PM ET
By Mike Clark, USA TODAY
c Copyright 2000 USA TODAY, a division of Gannett Co. Inc.


The Bard has writer's block in the art house hit-to-be
Shakespeare in Love, though given the state of his career
in 1593, he's just a bard with a lower-case "b." London's
rival Curtain and Rose theaters are fighting to land young
Will's latest, but the promising playwright is at a loss
penning the play — a romance about a pirate's daughter,
featuring lovers named Romeo and Ethel.

So far, the results couldn't be more off the mark if they
were Fred and Ethel. Yet by the time this accessibly brainy
screen charmer wraps up on its highest notes, we'll have
seen the creative process work its way to perfection and
had a series of escalating belly laughs along the way. Marc
Norman and Tom Stoppard have written one of the year's
smartest scripts, and Mrs. Brown director John Madden gets
a chance to show a funny side that's previously been
submerged.

Every writer needs a muse, and Shakespeare (Joseph Fiennes)
at least finds inspiration in the luminous and sexually
willing Lady Viola (Gwyneth Paltrow). Unfortunately, she's
mired in a forced engagement to an insufferable lord she
loathes (Colin Friel), who wants to whisk her across the
Atlantic to his Virginia tobacco fields.

Viola also finds herself stage-struck in the Elizabethan
era, when women are forbidden to appear on the boards. Her
solution is to dress as a man (Twelfth Night echoes abound
here) and win the Romeo role without her playwright lover's
awareness — initially, at least — of her identity.

It's a tossup as to which is more fun: Seeing the historical
likes of Shakespeare, Elizabeth I, rival playwright
Christopher Marlowe (Rupert Everett) and others interacting
in sprightly situations, or watching a cast of hot actors —
Ben Affleck, Geoffrey Rush and Tom Wilkinson included —
hustling and bustling in farcical fashion on stage and off
as the troupe cuts, pastes and modifies a flop into Romeo
and Juliet. The film's one weak link is Fiennes, who just
isn't very imposing when everyone else around him is.
Paltrow, in fact, makes her strongest screen impression to
date after a series of indifferent movies and roles.

As Elizabeth, Judi Dench is such a smash that she'll probably
get a deserved Oscar nomination for a relatively small role —
one that'll hopefully match an academy nod for the script.
This makes it two brilliant queens in a row for the actress,
following her Mrs. Brown nomination as Queen Victoria. By now,
we'd have to give Dench the benefit of the doubt were someone
to cast her as Queen Latifah.


Starring: Joseph Fiennes, Gwyneth Paltrow, Geoffrey Rush, Colin
          Firth, Judi Dench

Director: John Madden

Distributor: Miramax

Rated: R for sexuality