William Shakespeare has always been a tortured soul to me - not a helpless romantic. Still, the vibrantly acted "Shakespeare in Love" makes the case that the Bard must have been a romantic - how else can one account for his quirky romantic comedies ("As You Like It") or his morose, romantic tragedies ("Romeo and Juliet")? He must have been in love with a special, beautiful lady to inspire such matters of love and death. In truth, he was involved with another man, but that's another story.
As the film starts, the actor and playwright William Shakespeare (Joseph Fiennes) is suffering from writer's block - he is unable to devise a story out of his new play, "Romeo and Ethel, the Pirate's Daughter." Philip Henslowe (Geoffrey Rush), the owner of the prestigious theatre, the Rose, is threatened by slimy creditors into bringing in profits, and pleads for William to quickly deliver his play. William's loss for words miraculously fades once he sets his eyes on Viola de Lesseps (Gwyneth Paltrow), an heiress who is deeply touched by his work. His eyes light up once he starts to fall in love with Viola, and the play Romeo and Ethel slowly becomes the tragic Romeo and Juliet.
"Shakespeare in Love" is a fine film for what it is, but it is too safe and sanitized - the film constantly threatens to explode with passion and fireworks, or at least comically bawdy innuendoes, and it always seems afraid to cut loose. It holds back too often, and the delightful, on-target screenplay by Tom Stoppard requires more rhythm cinematically than it offers.
The actors certainly are up to the task. Joseph Fiennes is like an energetic puppy dog, leaping around town emitting phrases and remarks with frenetic ease - he's like a younger Woody Allen without the neurosis. Fiennes also has workable chemistry with Gwyneth Paltrow, and the movie shines whenever you see them exchanging glances at each other. Paltrow speaks like a British heiress, but her smiles and frowns get repetitious after a while - the constant close-ups indicate that there are only two expressions in her acting vocabulary. Of course, if you have seen "Hard Eight," you might have seen a more quixotic version of what is on display here. Ben Affleck brings comic arrogance to a new level as a boastful actor who slowly forces the Bard to develop the character of Mercutio. Kudos must also go to Geoffrey Rush ("Shine") as the caricaturized theatre owner who answers nearly every question with the dainty line, "It is a mystery." The show-stopper in all this is Judi Dench's remarkably authoritative, ghost-like Queen Elizabeth - it is a cameo, but when she appears on screen, the movie stops cold with her titanic presence.
"Shakespeare in Love" works because of the acting, and its profound theme about the love of theatre, summed up brilliantly during the Queen's speech at the end. Still, the film is static, though never lifeless, and with such an ambitious premise, it could have been so much more.
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