Much ado about nothing

Rating: 7/10 (20 December 2001)

Stoppard's script is clever, but that's all. It enjoys its relative wit and dexterity, at the expense of character and empathy: Viola is really rather a dull girl, while the bard comes across like a lost cast member from Four Weddings and a Funeral, the bright-but-scatty Englishman required for American audiences. The one-liners are clangers, the wit is contrived and the pace is at times leaden.
The arrival of Rupert Everett on the scene seems to promise an injection of class into the film, but he is killed off, leaving the lightweight Fiennes to pout and ponder through the rest of the romantic comedy/sitcom plot.
The froth surrounding the film swept Paltrow to the Oscar, a travesty considering Cate Blanchett's monumental effort as the queen in 'Elizabeth'.
The final two minutes of the film were utterly stunning. I felt that Stoppard and his band of doting accolytes had been fired, or else possessed by a creative spirit straight from Will himself. Viola's stately walk up the beach of the strange new world was pure magic, turning the fluff the previous 100 minutes into "sound and fury, signifying nothing." A pity that this spirit could not infuse the rest of the film.