Dear gods..

Rating: 1/10 (3 February 2006)

What a piece of trash.
Viola? Shrill and unsympathetic. (Guess what? Flouncing doesn't replacing emoting.) The bould Will? Little better. (Nice goatee, though.) Colin Firth made for a rather effective baddie, however- you'd end up rooting for him as opposed to the Styrofoam Two mentioned above. The other relief in this appalling piece of trash was an acerbic touch from Judi Dench as Elizabeth I.
Revisionist takes on the classics & the lives of those who created them are fine, but this was so unsatisfying. It goes for those theatre clichés to raise a half-hearted laugh of recognition from the audience in spades. This, instead of focusing on those little fripperies like, ooh, I don't know, character development, emotional connections..
Avoid.