Not big and not clever

Rating: 5/10 (22 May 2005)

Fair enough, 1998 may not have been the best year for Oscar contenders, but there were definitely some better movies than this out. Why not give the prize to Wes Anderson's 'Rushmore', or Todd Solondz's 'Happiness'. Why not be really controversial and look overseas, Sweden's 'Show Me Love' and Germany's 'Run Lola Run' are fabulous examples of film-making...and no doubt all films mentioned are massively superior to Shakespeare in Love. The Academy awards had already embarrassed themselves and proved that their shiny golden statuettes aren't worth the stand they're presented on with the handing over of 'Best Picture' to the abominable 'Titanic' over the massively superior 'LA Confidential', among others. I would have thought that they would want to redeem themselves in the eyes of their loyal followers the next year, but obviously they simply don't give a damn. In spite of having a good premise; a love story that fuses the central themes of Romeo and Juliet with events from the famous author's life, the film simply falls flat. It's a tedious and rather dull affair.
I'm not saying that the crew didn't try to make the best of it; it's got energy and a camp style that would have been great if it wasn't out of place, but something is wrong and the movie just cant seem to give itself what it needs to succeed. Too many British films seem keen to implement camp British humour, and although it works now and again; it certainly doesn't always, and it is that implementation that is this movie's main vice. Because of it's campy style, it is difficult, if not impossible, to take the central romance seriously and because of that the film is never going to work. The humour does give the film an element of originality, but unfortunately it's one element that it is better off without. The cast is impressive, as it features a wealth of talent, but none impress much. Joseph Fiennes doesn't have enough charisma to take on a meaty role such as Shakespeare himself, and Gwyneth Paltrow simply looks out of place among the rest of the cast. On the whole, the film is neither funny nor touching and since those are things it strives to achieve, it fails.