Spoiler Warning: This discussion contains some spoilers. It could be an entire gag from a comedy or in-depth conversation concerning events in the second act.
















Rating: 3 out of 5.

"You will never age for me, nor fade, nor die."

So often the brunt of the Oscar Best Picture joke, Shakespeare in Love has always interested me. 1990s Miramax is responsible for some of my favourite films of all time, and it must have held some quality to beat out the now-canonical Saving Private Ryan back at that 1999 ceremony. It's pretty naive to compare the two, considering the wildly contrasting genres and modes of storytelling, but also, it is kind of scandalous.

I think this has its fun with the lack of real information about Shakespeare's life, love, death and creative process. Having Shakespeare fall for a 'player' in one of his productions, dancing around her royal connections whilst disguising herself as a man, was actually quite fun in sections, itself playing on Shakespearian themes of mistaken identity and forbidden romance. I found the Romeo and Juliet elements a tad overbearing, I just wish it was a different play because this one is overdone to death, but the twist is interesting enough to keep you invested.

I love the outfits, the constantly exasperated Colin Firth, the transition from comedy to tragedy, and the silly exuberances of the Royal Family. The rest I find distinctly average. Gwenyth Paltrow is alright, hardly memorable though in hindsight, with a script that does her few favours. Joseph Fiennes may get the 90s sexy Shakespeare look right with guyliner and a single golden earring, but otherwise is just sort of present in scenes with the rest of the cast. I'm still not entirely sure about the casting of Ben Affleck, who is so noticeably Ben Affleck and so even more noticeably not British - it's very distracting, though he is present for the film's most fun moment in a sword-turned-pillow fight between warring actors.

Shakespeare in Love is hardly going to be a film I recommend right now; there are 100 other Shakespeare adaptations I would watch before this ranging from William Shakespeare's Romeo + Juliet to The Tragedy of Macbeth. They're both just two examples of considerably more interesting presentations of Shakespeare's stories. Again, I don't know how this won Best Picture when it's not even on your mum's list of favourite rom-coms. This is fun for the literary in your life who will find the amusement in obscure Shakespeare references and get frustrated when they run out of ideas and make it edgy by including sex scenes in 1590s England.