Deserving of every award received.

Rating: 10/10 (2 June 2001)

As a Shakespeare-o-phile I was blown away by the wit, imagination, humour, the literate script and the outstanding acting, costume and directing that sparkles throughout this film masterpiece. I can easily see why audiences unfamiliar with Shakespeares biography, his works and the everyday reality of Elizabethean life and the theatre would not be especially impressed. After all, while they did watch all the film, they really missed about half the movie. It would be like reading Giulliver's Travels as just a voyage adventure without noticing the fact that it's true genius and meaning lies on other levels entirely. There are many, many instances in the film where dialogue or events would seem to be straight forward but in fact allude to other known facts or persons; and therein lies the real humour and appreciation from what is in effect a continuing series of, "double entendres". What especially impressed me was the way in which the love story between Will and Viola is played out using many of the actual lines from Romeo and Juliet and with John Madden, the director, seamlessly transitioning the scenes from the bedroom to the stage and back again. I've never seen that device used in a film before with such effect! Deserving of every award it received and made it's main competition at the Oscar's that year, Saving Private Ryan, look like what it really was: a powerfully effective 15 minutes at the front end followed by an unimaginative and franky unbelievable John Wayne type flag waver from there on to the finish line.