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Rated: R; Length: 122 Minutes; Genres: Comedy, Romance; With: Joseph Fiennes and Gwyneth Paltrow See More
A
By Owen Gleiberman
Owen Gleiberman
Owen Gleiberman
Owen Gleiberman is a film critic for EW

SHAKESPEARE IN LOVE (R) Enchanting. It's 1593, and William Shakespeare (Joseph Fiennes) is hard at work on his new play, a romantic comedy entitled Romeo and Ethel, the Pirate's Daughter. Then he meets his muse, Viola De Lesseps (Gwyneth Paltrow), a beautiful heiress who is gaga for his writing. Unfortunately, she is set to marry someone else. As the weeks go by, the play becomes infused with the lifeblood of Shakespeare's passion. Shakespeare in Love has been made with an exuberant theatricality and wit -- it's the richest and most satisfying romantic movie of the year. Fiennes, who looks like Prince in his Bambi-pimp phase, plays Shakespeare as a man forced to talk dizzying circles of metaphor around himself simply to express what he's feeling. And Paltrow is truly his match; her emotions are so luminous they seem to be shining right through her skin. The first performance of Romeo and Juliet, with Viola rushed on stage at the last moment, is the film's exultant high point -- a celebration, in spirit, of the populist romanticism of the movies. A


Posted Dec 18, 1998
 

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