classicsoncall I would never have expected to be as entertained as I was by "Shakespeare in Love", but the humorous way in which it was presented made watching it a genuine pleasure. The situations and characters, such as they are spoofing the works of the great bard, is done with such creativity that one doesn't mind that his famous plays are given a royal send-up. Aside from Will Shakespeare (Joseph Fiennes) and his lady love Viola De Lesseps (Gwyneth Paltrow), supporting players Geoffrey Rush, Tom Wilkinson and Ben Affleck are all hilarious in their characterizations, with a noteworthy mention of Judi Dench as Queen Elizabeth. What the picture had me wonder about was how the historical William Shakespeare might have actually spent his daily routine writing plays, sonnets and poems, and if he had to deal with underfunded theaters and lack of paying customers. The man is so famous today you don't really think of him as a mere mortal carrying on day to day with the kind of superficial problems that came up in this story. Erectile dysfunction - who knows?Anyway, this is a good break from more serious movie fare, but in the grand scheme of things, to win out as Best Picture over "Saving Private Ryan", and even "Life is Beautiful" is something of a stretch to my mind. Best Costume Design I can agree with, and if there was a category for best Romantic Comedy, then it would have been a winner hands down. Still, not a bad little picture, and who knows, it might even have you looking up a little Shakespeare for your own personal reading pleasure.

grantss William Shakespeare (Joseph Fiennes), pre-fame, is a struggling writer searching for inspiration. He finds it in the beautiful Viola De Lesseps (Gwyneth Paltrow). They quickly fall in love, but there are complications...Funny, clever comedy. Some great lines and skits plus the writers cleverly weave the actual history of Shakespeare and his works into the plot. Makes for a highly engaging, intellectually stimulating and entertaining movie. Also has a lightness and freshness to it that carries the movie along wonderfully.Won the 1999 Best Picture Oscar, beating out four brilliant movies - Saving Private Ryan, The Thin Red Line, Elizabeth and Life is Beautiful.

ElMaruecan82 "Shakespeare in Love" should have been cinema's ultimate homage to William Shakespeare, not through an umpteenth adaptation, or adaptation's adaptation, to one of his iconic plays, but by putting the iconic playwright within the framework of an original movie plot; original in the sense that it turns him into the subject of a real-life yet loosely fictionalized biopic, a romantic comedy and something of an educational film. We learn a lot throughout John Madden's film, about stage, art, business, royalty and naturally, the genius of Shakespeare, the man who was put in the top 10 of the most influential people of the last millennium, the most highly ranking artist, above Mozart and the Beatles.I hate to use the word 'multi-layered' because it makes a movie sound like architectural work instead of than something being guided by genuine inspiration, but hey, if anything Madden's film proves is that even the greatest masterpieces were not made by a snap of a finger and were build upon many other factors than inspiration. Like "Romeo and Juliet", "Shakespeare in Love" is a multi-layered accomplishment, a work of art that can be enjoyed on many levels, confidently overlapping, but always with romance at the core. If the film's story isn't likely to leap over the centuries like "Romeo and Juliet", it doesn't matter; Will and Viola aren't supposed to steal Romeo and Juliet's thunder but to incarnate the seminal inspiration to the iconic couple. That's their power.Sadly, for all the reasons that can make "Shakespeare in Love", a great journey into love, passion and an immersion in the world and business of theater at the dawn of Queen Elizabeth's reign, the film is remembered as one of the worst Best Picture winners, the one that dared to steal "Saving Private Ryan"s golden statuette at the 1999 Oscars. Spielberg's war movie was an instant classic, a film that immediately topped all the 'Great Films' list, and to many users and even official websites, it is now an objective truth that "Shakespeare in Love" didn't deserve the Oscar. And instead of being a love story about a love story, the film had become a trigger to an enduring hate story with the Internet users. Hated and even loved for the wrong reasons, some would love it just because they hated "Saving Private Ryan" with passion, which doesn't say much about both films anyway. Now, where do I stand? For me, "Shakespeare in Love" isn't just one of these conventional costume dramas with sword fights, antechambers' plotting and feather-writing, and this comes from someone who loved the Best Picture co-nominee "Elizabeth". The film carries a sort of self-referential wit, as if it was conscious on its own craziness, it starts with the working title of the classic pay "Romeo and Ethel, the Pirate's Daughter", it's funny but it feels real. I mean, did you know that Walt Disney intended to call Mickey, Mortimer Mouse? The process of the creation of the play and how it is shaped by the real life events in the film is the kind of delights I love to see in a film, true or not. The part where Ben Affleck's character suggests Shakespeare (Joseph Fiennes) to keep the title "Romeo and Juliet" had the same resonance than that moment in "The Social Network" when Sean Parker (Justin Timberlake) tells Zuckerberg (Jess Eisenberg) to remove the "The" from "The Facebook" or when Zuckerberg says no one can't wear a sign indicating if he's single or engaged, hence coming with one of his most ingenuous ideas.That's the ransom of success and worldwide popularity, you can find countless inspirations for Romeo and Juliet's key scenes and I love how the two stories drive each other until the ultimate culmination. I also love how it still manages to encapsulate the conventions of its time like the forced marriage with Lord Wessex (Colin Firth), some thrilling duels, a few balcony meetings, nurses, antechambers plotting, and even the cross-dressing that prevailed in the theater at the time, and that earned Gwyneth Paltrow her Oscar. Indeed, women couldn't play in a stage, which makes you realize why comedy was the strongest suit to embody the notion of love. And the film even manages to showcase some daring anachronisms, one of my favorite being the "psychiatrist" played by Anthony Sher. In this fascinating mess, you can't tell fiction from reality and you don't really care, for the film is fun from one bit of another, and is populated by a great gallery of British actors.Now, the real issue, is "Did it deserve the Best Picture?" well, even if I didn't give it the Oscar, "Saving Private Ryan" wouldn't be my second vote, the irony of 1998 is that it featured two costume dramas and two war movies, "Life is Beautiful" has at least the merit to tackle a very thought-provoking idea and make an enchanting fable out of tragedy. Spielberg's film works on one level, which is the terrific realism of the war battles, but that's all, if you get deeper in the plot, you can easily spot some moments where it sinks into manipulative schmaltz, where you realize that this war is between good and evil guys, while it's true that there was an evil ideology ruling the side, you can't make a war movie and imply that every soldier deserved to die, this is too dangerously simplistic. So to all those who believe "Saving Private Ryan" was the better one, I want to say why? The answers will all focus on the battles, story-wise or acting-wise, the other movies didn't deserve less."Shakespeare in Love" had the merit to venture in many ideas, many genres, and be enjoyable on many levels. It didn't expect to compete against Spielberg's film, it might have benefited from Weinstein's lobbying, but to hate it on this sole basis isn't the stuff being passion for movies is made on, or constructive criticism.

oOoBarracuda The 1998 Best Picture Winner, Shakespeare in Love has suffered from the "didn't deserve it" curse. Sometimes, a movie is remembered not on its own merits, but on what it beat out for Oscar's top prize. I have been guilty of this before as well; it took me until I was 27 years old to see Forrest Gump because I was so distraught at the fact that it beat out Pulp Fiction and Network for Best Picture. I've tried not to put movies in this purgatory anymore, but it still happens. For instance, I hardly ever meet someone who has seen How Green Was My Valley, yet I meet a lot of people who scoff that John Ford's magical piece beat out Citizen Kane in the eyes of the Academy. John Madden's feature, starring Geoffrey Rush, Joseph Fiennes, and Gwyneth Paltrow is not immune to this phenomenon. Unfortunately, Shakespeare in Love, the story of the Bard finding his muse and writing his most revered play, is more remembered as the bandit that stole Best Picture from Saving Private Ryan. A struggling poet and amateur playwright, Will Shakespeare (Joseph Fiennes) is grappling with a severe case of writer's block. Having already sold a play to theater operator Philip Henslowe (Geoffrey Rush), he is racing against the deadline of opening night to have something to give to both the operator of the theater and the audience. He needs the love of a woman to inspire him to write the romance expected of him, but every attempt to find her has proved futile. Meanwhile, Viola De Lesseps (Gwyneth Paltrow) a beautiful admirer of theater and fan of Shakespeare's wants nothing more than to act. Since only men are allowed to act in theater, Viola takes on the identity of a fictitious Thomas Kent, dresses as a man, and auditions and is accepted for a part in Shakespeare's next play. Wil sees through her ruse and falls in love with the woman behind the mustache. The two begin a love affair tainted with the knowledge that Wil is married, and Viola has been promised to Lord Wessex. Eventually realizing their union will never endure, the two go on, promising to forever love the other. Viola enters her marriage to Lord Wessex; Wil, finally attaining his muse, goes on to write his next play. The true treat of this film is its screenplay. This clever, well- written script will have you roped in from the first scene. Marc Norman, Tom Stoppard deserve accolades and were totally deserving for their statuettes for Best Original Screenplay. Aside from how well it was written, the story is very interesting as well. Even though Shakespeare's works are read in high schools throughout the world, very little thought is put into the love life of the man behind the great romances. Costumes were another brilliant treat from this film. Granted, it seems as though period pieces always take home top prize from the Academy, there was the added pressure of also designing costumes to be used as costumes, as much of the scenes comprised of the actors rehearsing the play Shakespeare was writing. Every garment worn by the actors looked uniquely Victorian and produced a well-deserved gold statuette for costume designer Sandy Powell. This film, much like the English Patient, deserves to be viewed on its own merit, and accepted as a fine piece of filmmaking, regardless of the other films that came out the same year. Shakespeare in Love is a drama and a romance but never gets bogged down by either genre. There are playful moments abound within the film, making it all the more engaging for the audience. My favorite scene of this nature takes place in a bar; Wil is depressed over his writer's block and bumps into revered playwright Christopher Marlowe who gives Shakespeare advice for his play. The authorship of works credited to Shakespeare is heavily debated in some circles with many, myself included believing Marlowe to be the true author. It was a fun nod the film took to recognize this and incorporate it into the film. What was also fun was the repeated allusions throughout the film to other works of Shakespeare's, most notably Twelfth Night. Being a fan of works attributed to Shakespeare it was fun to see these nods within the film; these allusions also made it easier to forgive the historical inaccuracies wrought throughout the film as well. Shakespeare in Love is a fun look at the inner workings of possibly the most famous playwright to have ever lived. The film is beautiful to watch and captivating due to the exceptional screenplay and costumes. I urge audiences to view Shakespeare in Love, on its own merits; I wager you will be pleasantly surprised. Shakespeare in Love is so much more than "the film that beat Saving Private Ryan". If given the chance, audiences will fall in love with Shakespeare in Love.