Good Costume Drama

Rating: 8/10 (28 December 1998)

As a costume drama, Shakespeare in Love succeeds. As accurate theatrical history, it begs the question. Movies reflect the issues of their day. So does this one. A woman playing Juliet is a nice role reversal that Shakespeare would have loved. In fact, he did have a woman playing a man falling in love with another man. What the Romeo and Juliet scenes lack is the passion of young love. These actors are much older than their parts. The final scenes are not tragic, leaving the audience's outburst at the end puzzling. Yet as a film that depicts something of the fun of Elizabethan times and its drama, it succeeds and can be quite useful for people who will never see a Shakespearean play.