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I'm all for people attempting to make Shakespeare more accessible to the masses, but I draw the line at Love's Labour's Lost. Kenneth Branagh's fourth adaptation of the Bard (four and a half if you count A Midwinter's Tale) tries to do way too much with what is arguably Shakespeare's weakest play.
There are several things a filmmaker can do to liven up Shakespeare and make his work more appealing to Betty and Ron Normalson of Wheeling, West Virginia. The first and most obvious is changing the setting, like in Michael Almereyda's inspiring new version of Hamlet, which takes place in present-day New York City. An ambitious filmmaker can even raise an eyebrow by casting acting talent that you wouldn't normally associate with Shakespeare, like Branagh did with 1993's Much Ado About Nothing, which featured Denzel Washington and the Razzie-nominated Keanu Reeves.
Branagh does both of these here, as Lost is set in pre-World War II Navarre, a small county outside of France, and features performances from borderline Gen-Y talents Alicia Silverstone (Blast From the Past) and Matthew Lillard (S.L.C. Punk). But things go awry by the presence of about ten song-and-dance numbers from the likes of Irving Berlin, Cole Porter, Rogers & Hammerstein and the Gershwin brothers. And when the characters aren't singing, they're wrapped up in what appears to be a zany screwball comedy from the ‘30s, full of silly pratfalls, double-takes and exaggerated, slack-jawed facial expressions. There's a reason that vaudeville died, but nobody seems to have told Branagh.
The story is about The King of Navarre (Alessandro Nivola, Timecode) and his three horny buddies, Berowne (Branagh), Longaville (Lillard) and Dumaine (Adrian Lester, Primary Colors), who decide that war is for sissies and make an agreement to hole up for three years, depriving themselves of women, food and sleep to study philosophy. Their plans are interrupted by the arrival of a French princess (Silverstone) and her three horny friends Rosaline (Natascha McElhone, Ronin), Maria (Carmen Ejogo, The Avengers) and Katherine (Emily Mortimer, Scream 3). They sing, they dance, they fall in love, and I went home. End of story. Oh, and then I had lunch.
There are also a lot of annoying supporting roles that made me want to leave the theatre and run over someone's dog. Each actor seemed to be in a contest to see who could `out-ham' the next, and as a result, Lost plays like a silly parody. But I don't think it's supposed to be, which just makes the whole thing laughably sad. Particularly annoying are Nathan Lane (Isn't She Great) and Timothy Spall, the latter of whom was so likeable in Topsy-Turvy.
I've heard people complain about the quality of the singing and the dancing of the actors, but I thought it was pretty commendable, with Lester a notable standout. It's certainly a lot better than I could do, or would even be willing to do. It's a risky move that unfortunately doesn't pay off here.
Branagh deserves credit for his ambition, but little else. He's been nominated for three Oscars (writing and acting) in his Shakespeare adaptations, but only when he sticks to the serious plays (Hamlet and Henry V). Most of Hamlet's crew is on board here as well, with cinematographer Alex Thomson, editor Neil Farrell, production designer Tim Harvey and composer Patrick Doyle (who was nominated for Hamlet) contributing to the overall look, feel and sound of a ‘30s musical.
1:33 - PG for sensuality and a brief drug reference
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