A charming, witty, engaging romantic comedy

Rating: 9/10 (18 January 1999)

Shakespeare in Love is a charming, witty (how could it not be with Tom Stoppard as one of the screenwriters?), engaging, and sophisticated romantic comedy. I was entranced with the love story between Will and Viola; intellectually intrigued by the parallel development of Romeo & Juliet and Twelfth Night, two of Shakespeare's most popular and accessible plays, pleasantly taught some details Elizabethan theatre history, such as the multiple jobs that the lead actor in a company performed: Ned was star, company manager, assistant director or choreographer, and dramaturg all at once; and amused by the suggestions of the real sources of Shakespeare's ideas and lines.
The entire screenplay animated the writer's motto, "If it's good, steal it." The Puritan preaching hellfire and brimstone is the source of the immortal line "a rose by any other name." Viola suggests Orsino as the name of the Duke in what will be Twelfth Night. "Orsino. Good name", is Will's response, just as it was to Marlowe's suggestion for the title of Romeo and Juliet. Could that play really have been as great with the title Romeo and Ethel, the Pirate's Daughter.
I could go on and on, but words do fail me. See this film. Enjoy it. Revel in it. Swish it around your mind and heart like a vibrant and impertinent wine. It'll be the best tonic for anything that has ailed you.