A cracking yarn

Rating: 8/10 (30 July 2006)

Yes a cracking yarn with just enough accurate historical allusions in terms of characters and locations to make you forgive the anachronisms. But this was never meant to be an accurate and historical account of Shakespeare's life. What it is, is a funny, joyous and irreverent look at the man and his early work.
Of special note is the way in which the film draws on the plots of Shakespeare's plays for its own plot and then ultimately turning it on its head by representing his subsequent plays as drawing on the plot of story told in the film. Notably of course, The 12th Night.
In fact the film was full of these sorts of "in jokes" such as the ragamuffin John Webster (a playwright who would have been the early teen to Shakespeare's young adult) and who is renowned for his dark plots as suggested by his love of blood in the film.
The cast was pretty good although I was at a bit of a loss as to how Ben Affleck got cast in his role. The only thing I can imagine is that the director, casting director and script writers clearly love irony (you only have to watch the play to know that) and perhaps they thought it would be funny having a late 20th century star playing his period counterpart. Almost worked but not quite.
Not a serious film by any means but well done and much more enjoyable than the vast majority of Hollywood rubbish churned out year by year.