A classy historical who-dunnit, with a great cast. This is indeed a jolly romp - part farce/tragedy and comedy, which I'm sure the real William Shakespeare, whoever he was*, would approve of - at least as a play! Just shrug off your academic baggage for 2 hours and you might just enjoy it immensely, as I did. It has a charm not unlike Shakespeare in Love, again with some great acting. Its great to see both Vanessa Redgrave and her daughter playing "bad" Queen Bess at various ages of her life.
This in itself adds even greater poignancy to the climax of the film, where I guarantee you'll hoot inside with the sheer audacity of the historical tosh the film peddles. Nevertheless it all holds together wonderfully well and for a change we get an adult British film not mired in the Twee-ness of it all. Bravo... go see it, I might just go again for a laugh.
*Shakespeare. -Ed.
This in itself adds even greater poignancy to the climax of the film, where I guarantee you'll hoot inside with the sheer audacity of the historical tosh the film peddles. Nevertheless it all holds together wonderfully well and for a change we get an adult British film not mired in the Twee-ness of it all. Bravo... go see it, I might just go again for a laugh.
*Shakespeare. -Ed.
