Running time: 115 minutes
Starring: Joseph Fiennes, Gwyneth Paltrow, Geoffrey Rush, Colin Firth, Ben Affleck, Judi Dench, Tom Wilkinson, Simon Callow
Rating 9 out of 10
An energetic, irreverent, witty and Oscar-winning romp through 1590s London in the company of a struggling young playwright called Will (Joseph Fiennes). He's promised a new romantic comedy - called Romeo And Ethel, The Pirate's Daughter - to Philip Henslowe (Geoffrey Rush), manager of The Rose, who desperately needs it to stave off competition from Richard Burbage's (Martin Clunes) The Curtain.
But Will's serious bout of writer's block may only be cleared by a passionate tryst with the upper-class Lady Viola (Gwyneth Paltrow), who herself dreams of defying convention and taking to the stage. But Lady Viola has been pledged in marriage to the bolshy Earl of Wessex (Colin Firth) by royal decree, and the unfolding saga of Romeo And Ethel becomes evermore coloured by Will's increasingly complicated love life.
Fiennes and Paltrow make for charming leads, but this is an ensemble triumph in the truest sense -the uniformly excellent cast also including Judi Dench, Ben Affleck, Tom Wilkinson and Simon Callow. Even the comic cameos of Fast Show regulars Mark Williams and Simon Day are quality trimmings to a well-produced, cleverly scripted, beautifully designed and superbly performed film: earthy, hearty and full-bloodedly entertaining. Bill the Bard would have been proud.
But Will's serious bout of writer's block may only be cleared by a passionate tryst with the upper-class Lady Viola (Gwyneth Paltrow), who herself dreams of defying convention and taking to the stage. But Lady Viola has been pledged in marriage to the bolshy Earl of Wessex (Colin Firth) by royal decree, and the unfolding saga of Romeo And Ethel becomes evermore coloured by Will's increasingly complicated love life.
Fiennes and Paltrow make for charming leads, but this is an ensemble triumph in the truest sense -the uniformly excellent cast also including Judi Dench, Ben Affleck, Tom Wilkinson and Simon Callow. Even the comic cameos of Fast Show regulars Mark Williams and Simon Day are quality trimmings to a well-produced, cleverly scripted, beautifully designed and superbly performed film: earthy, hearty and full-bloodedly entertaining. Bill the Bard would have been proud.
