With Artistic License to Kill

Rating: 9/10 (28 September 2009)

Suffering from "writer's block", Elizabethan playwright Joseph Fiennes (as William "Will" Shakespeare) is having trouble completing "Romeo and Ethel", his new comedy. But, all's well that ends well after Mr. Fiennes meets beautiful new lover Gwyneth Paltrow (as Viola de Lesseps) - because, after a star-crossed romance, Shakespeare's tragic "Romeo and Juliet" is born.
"Shakespeare in Love" is a first class production, benefiting immensely from the cleverness of writers Marc Norman and Tom Stoppard, along with sharp direction from John Madden. True, somebody should have noticed Daniel Brocklebank (as "Juliet") and Ms. Paltrow (as "Romeo") needed to switch roles - but, most of what you see is plausible (it is, after all, a comedy).
You don't have to have had courses in Shakespeare to enjoy the film and "get" some of the parallels drawn by the writers. There are scores of theatrical and Shakespearian references, though. And, the literarily inclined can revel in the appearance of John Webster (Joe Roberts) as a street punk and Christopher Marlowe (Rupert Everett) giving Shakespeare the plot for "Romeo and Juliet".
********* Shakespeare in Love (12/3/98) John Madden ~ Joseph Fiennes, Gwyneth Paltrow, Geoffrey Rush, Judi Dench