Shakespeare in Love

http://mrshowbiz.go.com/reviews/moviereviews/movies/ShakespeareInLove_1998.html

Eleonore Snow


When first we meet the young and brooding William Shakespeare — Will
to his friends — he is, not surprisingly, writing. Head bowed,
fingers stained with ink, he is working feverishly — on his
signature. Not quite what you'd expect from the most important writer
in the history of letters, but then John Madden's new film,
Shakespeare in Love, is itself entirely unexpected. It's a smart,
rollicking romantic comedy that strikes a rare pitch comprising witty
wordplay, bawdy fun, and passionate romance.

As written by Tom Stoppard (who first toyed with the Bard in
Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead) and Marc Norman, Will (Joseph
Fiennes) isn't the stuffy, high-collared Shakespeare depicted on the
back of Signet Classics. He's a struggling, tortured artist under
serious pressure to produce a "crowd tickler" for Philip Henslowe
(Geoffrey Rush), the strapped-for-cash owner of London's Rose
Theatre. Trouble is, Will's got a paralyzing case of writer's block
(hence the signature episode), and despite Henslowe's hounding ("Love
and a bit with a dog — that's what they want"), he isn't getting
anywhere with his new play, Romeo and Ethel, the Pirate's Daughter.
Will needs a muse bad, and he finds one in the lovely Lady Viola De
Lesseps (love the name!), played by Gwyneth Paltrow. A big fan of
Shakespeare's, Viola disguises herself as a lad (as women weren't
allowed onstage in 1593) and wins the role of Romeo. Amid this kooky,
perfectly Shakespearean comedy of errors, Viola and Will fall in
love, and she inspires him to write his first masterpiece, Romeo and
Juliet.

The script ingeniously interweaves the star-crossed romance between
the lowly (and married) scribe and his well-born love — who has been
reluctantly betrothed to the wretched Lord Wessex (Colin Firth) —
and the evolution of their stage counterparts. Between balcony scenes
(one of which is a real screamer) and burning embraces, the film
subsists on a steady stream of Shakespeare in-jokes and biting
modern-day references. In one tavern scene, we overhear a waiter
reciting the dinner specials: "Tonight we have a pig's foot marinated
in juniper berry vinaigrette." In another, Will's great rival,
Christopher "Kit" Marlowe (Rupert Everett), feeds him the idea for
the plot of Romeo and Juliet, even suggesting names for the
characters. ("Mercutio? Good name," responds Will.) The screenplay is
pure gold, and Madden (Mrs. Brown) spins it just right, never letting
it slacken or veer out of control.

And then there are the performances. Rush dithers and drools
hilariously as the dentally challenged Henslowe; Judi Dench reigns
supreme as Queen Elizabeth; and Ben Affleck crows and swaggers as an
Elizabethan Tom Cruise. Gwyneth Paltrow (adopting Audrey Hepburn's
lofty London dialect) gives her first performance since Emma worthy
of the hype that attends her every move of late. But best of all is
Fiennes, whose focused charm allows him to effortlessly shift between
Will's gloomy intensity, cocky prowess, and tender lovesickness at
the snap of a finger. Tying it all together are Stephen Warbeck's
infectious score and Martin Childs' production design. The result is
a film that is as witty, astute, and romantic as its timeless
subject.