Best screenplay and acting of the year!

Rating: 9/10 (2 January 1999)

The year's best film! The Marc Norman/Tom Stoppard screenplay (remember "Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead"?) was outstanding, the historical perspectives on theater (great details about audience/stage/props) and acting (Joseph Fiennes as the young Shakespeare, Gwyneth Paltrow as the beautiful Viola, Geoffrey Rush shines as impresario Henslowe) were all finely balanced goodies that made this a throughly enjoyable film.