Overrated? Heck, it's terribly Underrated!

Rating: 10/10 (29 July 2000)

I can't believe somebody could rent this movie and find it to be a bad film. I didn't see it until a day or two after it won Best Picture, but when I did, I smiled and affirmed that they had picked the best film of the year. A year, I will remind you, that in July it already seemed that Saving Private Ryan would certainly and very unfairly win itself the Best Picture award plus 10 more. The fact that so many people felt that Shakespeare in Love robbed SPR of its Oscars proves further just how sad this country is. People are extremely easily won over by cheap sentiment and commercials which tell us that SPR was "deep." SIL's Oscars were blamed on the Academy's forgetfulness.
Truth be told, that is exactly why SIL won and SPR lost. A film came along that impressed them late in the game, and that clinched the award. Plus, it was pushed up by Miramax's soft money campaign. Heck, if SIL didn't exist, Miramax would have tried its hardest to get Life is Beautiful that Best Picture Oscar. It would have even had a chance, a foreign film. No, if indeed SPR had come around in, say, October, it would have certainly won the Best Picture Oscar. Why? Well, look back to the 1998 awards show, where Titanic took everything and its mother. Very few people would affirm that Titanic was a worthwhile Best Picture. I don't know about you, but I was pretty embarassed to be an American after I aw Titanic (of course, afterwards, it swept the entire world, so I guess it's just our species). Titanic was sappy and obvious with its meanings and emotions, as was SPR. It would have won if not for their forgetfulness. Luckily, SIL conquered it.
Okay, the reason I like this film so much: it is extraordinarily well written and it has everything. Let's start with the everything notion right away: action, romance, comedy and drama. All of those are here in full force. It was perfect in all those aspects. Now, for the great writing, which many people are apparently missing:
to adapt a play as great as Romeo and Juliette and make it even more compelling than the original is a feat that almost no one can achieve. More compelling? Did I actually say that?!?!?!?! SACRILEGE! No, I truly believe that the play garners more meaning as we see it develop throughout SIL. We see Shakespeare's inspirations to write the play, we see him lovingly rehearse lines from the play with the woman whom he loves. Plus, in a developement so ingenious that it makes me clap, Viola, his love interest, is Romeo and Shakespeare is Juliette. It is just beautiful, and I have to give this movie a 10/10. It's terribly underrated, because I believe the idiots at the Academy, as well as a huge amount of cynical self-described film buffs have regretted its initial success. Some people will never know how good movies can get.