Very entertaining, if not entirely accurate.

Rating: Null/10 (17 February 1999)

Despite the trailers looking very promising for this film, I was originally disinclined to go and see it due to a completely unfounded dislike of Gwyneth Paltrow's acting. I had heard enough about her wonderful English accent etc. However, I had to admit that it was almost faultless, although I felt that she was doing a great impression of Emma Thompson doing Shakespeare!
Otherwise, a fabulous cast, Fiennes smouldering nicely, Geoffrey Rush just slightly eccentric as usual, Judi Dench stealing all her scenes, and Ben Affleck doing quite a lot with a fairly small part! Costumes great, set very impressive. Great in-jokes, although I guess if you've never done any Shakespeare you might actually have missed quite a lot.
I was impressed with the idea of them doing a play within the film - I was unaware of just how much it revolved around the actual staging of Romeo and Juliet until I got there. In fact, although the love story between Fiennes and Paltrow did little to move me, I cried at the end of their Romeo and Juliet!
Only slight complaint would be the number of clinches between the two main characters - it was starting to turn into a Merchant-Ivory bosom-heaving period drama.
Enjoyed it immensely and would have no hesitation in recommending it to anyone who fancies a light-hearted look at the 16th century, whether they like Shakespeare much or not!