A Fun Little Movie, with Reservations

Rating: 10/10 (23 July 1999)

This is an fun little movie, and a fine companion piece to "Rosencrantz" by Stoppard. It's full of humor and romance and all the acting is first-rate. Lots of little "in" jokes please those of us who love Shakespeare, and there are lots of insane little touches (an Elizabethan psychologist, for instance) give it levels of meaning. One quibble: there's too much graphic sex, most of it thrown in as a cheap laugh. This makes it quite unsuitable for children, who would probably be well served by this movie if they could see it, as an introduction to Shakespeare as the equally unrealistic (and exquisite) "Amadeus" was to the music of Mozart. It should've gotten an NC-17 rating for these absolutely unnecessary shenanigans. Sex in movies is always funnier, and also more romantic and even sexier, when it's implied rather than shown (and here I don't refer to the scenes between Shakespeare and Viola, but we see more of Gwyneth Paltrow than is absolutely necessary. Other than that, it's a fine movie for adults, and if they are literate and not snobbish (a rather slim number, but we're out there) it is an enjoyable sex romp.