I'm Not Sure Why This Didn't Strike Home With Me

Rating: 5/10 (30 May 2012)

I want to say right off the top that there's is a lot to really like about this movie. First, the performances of the two leads (Joseph Fiennes as Shakespeare and Gwyneth Paltrow as Lady Viola) were excellent, and the supporting performances from folks such as Colin Firth, Judi Dench, Ben Affleck and Simon Callow were equally good. The sets offered a wonderful feel of Elizabethan England and the costumes were magnificent. It was the overall story that just didn't capture me, and even there I'm not sure why. It had a lot of comedic potential. Shakespeare is suffering from writer's block as he struggles with a deadline to write a play called "Romeo and Ethel, the Pirate's Daughter." (!) That alone has to be good for a few laughs. His writer's block seems to be directly related to his lack of a female muse, whose love would inspire him. Into that void steps Lady Viola, who not only falls in love with Shakespeare, in spite of the fact that she's to be married, but ends up starring as Romeo, once she disguises herself as a man (because women weren't allowed on the stage in Elizabethan England.) Shakespeare discovers the truth and the two begin a passionate love affair that overcomes Shakespeare's difficulty and he produces not "Romeo and Ethel, the Pirate's Daughter" but instead "Romeo and Juliet."
I don't really know what the problem was. I can't pinpoint anything in particular except to say that the story (as promising and well portrayed as it was) just didn't draw me in. By all means, watch it. Obviously, a lot of people like it, and I can't really find fault with it. It just didn't grab me. (5/10)