Well, some people like it

Rating: 1/10 (24 November 2001)

Clearly some people are able to enjoy this movie as a romantic comedy (I saw one comment headed 'Shakespeare would have been proud'), while others see it as trashy and misguided. My suggestion is that people who enjoy historical dramas, and insights into the creative process of staging etc., also take a look at Mike Leigh's 'Topsy Turvy'. Another era, a completely different kind of production to Shakespeare, but a movie that I think is far superior.

Why? Well, Topsy Turvy engages with the actual work and era of the authors - in this case, the Victorian light opera writers Gilbert and Sullivan - whereas SinL makes no real effort to link to Shakespeare. Of course, lines are quoted all over the place, but the context is more Monty Python than anything resembling Shakespeare's world. The whole thing is so disconnected, it drifts aimlessly about grabbing bits and pieces of other genres, getting a few laughs from putting modern cabbie banter in the mouth of a river lighterman while attempting to insert a realistic Elizabeth I in the middle of high-stakes drama.
Here was a golden opportunity to bring the past to life and show Shakespeare's work coming together in an accessible but believable way. Instead, Stoppard decided to simply dress up a dumb romance with the trappings of a another era to give it superficial originality.

Not destined to be a classic.