Approach with caution

Rating: 6/10 (22 September 2007)

LOVE presents a pretty conceit that has the author himself pining for his next true love as he prepares his latest play. The conceit is that many of Shakespeare's plays are quoted from or acted out in part in this expensive comedy-drama. And this happens right from the get-go when a character shouts "A plague on both your houses!" Any Shakespeare fan can tell you this is a line from "Romeo and Juliet." And "Romeo and Juliet" is the very play the married but lovelorn Will is composing during the course of this movie, a play that will end up transforming and transfixing everyone who comes into contact with it -- the same effect that happens to those seeing Picasso's "Guernica" or hearing Mozart's "Requiem" for the first time. Could this magical effect have happened in real life? Probably not, but it is a witty plot angle. The acting is excellent, the costuming is wonderful, the sets are very authentic in feel. But -- and this is a very big but -- LOVE is a chick flick. Real men are not welcome. Shakespeare himself (Joseph Fiennes) looks and often acts like a woman in disguise -- one of the movie's plot elements indeed focuses on gender confusion and identity swapping, which is also right out of "Twelfth Night," another Shakespeare play. Claire Danes is wonderful as Shakespeare's latest muse, and the magnificent supporting cast is made up of many familiar faces, most of them British. Ben Affleck is the only other American in the cast, and he plays a small but critical role. In the end, all's well that ends well. But it does not change the nature of this film, which is for women only. Men, do not be fooled by the Oscars bestowed upon this film. As any right-thinking person knows, an Oscar means squat to most viewers these days.