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Stars indicate the most critically-acclaimed movies.

Shakespeare in Love
Miramax Films


7.7

based on 33 reviews
Read critic reviews
How did we calculate this?

based on 40 votes
Read user comments
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FILM:

MPAA RATING: R for sexuality

Starring Gwyneth Paltrow, Joseph Fiennes, Geoffrey Rush, Judi Dench, Colin Firth, Ben Affleck, and Rupert Everett

Shakespeare in Love is a romantic comedy for the 1990s set in the 1590s. It imaginatively unfolds the witty, sexy and timeless tale behind the creation of the greatest love story ever told. (Miramax Films)

GENRE(S):	Romance
WRITTEN BY:	Marc Norman Tom Stoppard
DIRECTED BY:	John Madden
RELEASE DATE:	DVD: August 10, 1999 Video: August 10, 1999 Theatrical: December 11, 1998
RUNNING TIME:	122 minutes, Color
ORIGIN:	USA / UK

All critic scores are converted to a 100-point scale. If a critic does not indicate a score, we assign a score based on the general impression given by the text of the review. Learn more...

100

The New Republic Stanley Kauffmann

With most historical films the informed viewer scrutinizes in order to cluck at errors. (There are books full of such cluckings.) With Shakespeare in Love, the more one knows, the more one can enjoy the liberties taken. [Jan. 4, 1999]

100

Chicago Sun-Times Roger Ebert

I was carried along by the wit, the energy and a surprising sweetness.

100

Entertainment Weekly Owen Gleiberman

The richest and most satisfying romantic movie of the year. It's really about two great loves at once -- the love of life and of art -- and the way that Shakespeare, like no writer before him, transformed the one into the other.

100

Time Richard Corliss

The true, rare glamour of the piece is its revival of two precious movie tropes: the flourishing of words for their majesty and fun, and--in the love play between Fiennes and his enchantress--the kindling of a playfully adult eroticism.

100

The New York Times Elvis Mitchell

Shakespeare meets Sherlock, and makes for pure enchantment in the inspired conjecture behind Shakespeare in Love.

100

Los Angeles Times Kenneth Turan

One of those entertaining confections that's so pleasing to the eye and ear you'd have to be a genuine Scrooge to struggle against it.

100

Washington Post Michael O'Sullivan

Paltrow and Fiennes are so good and the script, referencing not only "Romeo and Juliet" but "Twelfth Night," is so consistently intelligent that seduction is inevitable.

100

Film.com Norman Green

These are the heights of cinematic achievement.

100

New York Post Rod Dreher

If she (Paltrow) were the only good thing about Shakespeare in Love, it still would have been worth seeing; that she is the crown jewel in a glittering tiara of a film studded with writing and acting gems testifies to the deep pleasures to be found in this remarkable movie.

100

Portland Oregonian Barry Johnson

Like "Amadeus," Shakespeare in Love works splendidly as an appreciation of an artist in the heat of creation, and it breathes life into "Romeo and Juliet."

100

Film.com Gemma Files

It's a rollicking good time, full of genuine emotional pull and incandescent acting, and anchored by a passionate love for the theater itself which puts most human liaisons--including Shakespeare and Viola's -- to shame.

100

Chicago Tribune Michael Wilmington

Some scholars may scowl, some lowbrows may scoff. But, like wordwise Will, these filmmakers know how to win a crowd -- from the queen down to the groundlings, from the sky above to the stage below. Bravo! [5 December 1998, Friday, p.A]

100

San Francisco Chronicle Ruthe Stein

Anyone not romantically inclined going into Shakespeare in Love surely will be by the end.

Film.com Peter Brunette

Stoppard's luxuriant, richly comic language cascades and washes over you, and, for once, more than keeps pace with the sprightly pictures.

TNT RoughCut Jennifer Nowitzky

The most romantic film of the year.

Newsweek David Ansen

The beauty of this extremely clever movie, directed with fleet, robust theatricality by John Madden, is how deftly it manages to work on multiple levels.

Washington Post Stephen Hunter

The movie becomes something quite rare and magical: a text about a text that is also full of life. In other words, it's a true first: It's both postmodern and fun!

Variety Lael Lowenstein

Exquisitely acted, tightly directed and impressively assembled.

Chicago Reader Lisa Alspector

It's easy to suspend disbelief and embrace this historically creative fiction, whose clever relationship to what's known and what's unresolved is part of what makes it so intriguing and so romantic.

Mr. Showbiz Eleonore Snow

The result is a film that is as witty, astute, and romantic as its timeless subject.

Austin Chronicle Marjorie Baumgarten

The end result is a delightful, though a smidge too long, reminder of one of the reasons we so enjoy going to the movies: perchance to dream.

San Francisco Examiner Walter Addiego

Its brazen mixture of the comic and dramatic, the high and low and the emotional and intellectual is positively Shakespearean.

The Globe and Mail (Toronto) Rick Groen

The whole ensemble has a hoot with this material, and their joy is contagious.

USA Today Mike Clark

Accessibly brainy screen charmer.

New York Daily News Jami Bernard

Inordinately clever, sprightly romantic comedy.

Dallas Observer M. V. Moorhead

These filmmakers have taken a historical figure and made him into a hot-blooded romantic hero. Shakespeare did that a time or two himself.

The Onion (A.V. Club) Keith Phipps

Delivers the goods, if the goods you're in the market for happen to be a clever romance concerning William Shakespeare that's unlikely to cause anyone to reassess their notions of Shakespeare, romance, or enjoyment.

ReelViews James Berardinelli

Not a great film, but it's an excuse to have an evening of pure enjoyment with a little culture painlessly mixed in.

LA Weekly Ella Taylor

Good fun, though not more than up-market situation comedy studded with the usual leaps out of period-speak to swipe at contemporary Hollywood.

TV Guide Sandra Contreras

This delightful, fast-paced and entirely fictional imagining of Shakespeare's life during the writing of "Romeo and Juliet" brims with witticisms predicated on the determination to have a rollicking good time exploring the link between libido and creativity.

Salon.com Laura Miller

A corny, old-fashioned backstage farce.

Christian Science Monitor David Sterritt

This romantic farce has a talented cast and energy to spare, but somehow the ingredients don't burn as brightly as one would expect from such promising ingredients.

Village Voice Amy Taubin

It soon becomes evident just how inane a film this is.

The average user rating for this movie is 7.7 (out of 10) based on 40 User Votes
Note: User votes are NOT included in the Metascore calculation.

Leonardo P. gave it a4:
I don't now why Shakespeare in Love won the Academy Award for Best Picture and Best Actress. It is not so good as the critics said, I think that Saving Private Ryan is very better. It stays boring in a lot of parts and it has a lot of errors. Finally, I don't recommend it.

Bob J. gave it a3:
I found that the movie was not very good at all and was quite boring to say the least. The thing that makes me the most mad was the fact that it got Best Picture over SAVING PRIVATE RYAN!!! Saving private Ryan was a definite 9.0-10.0 rated film (out of 10). The other thing is (as T.M. mentioned) was the whole girl dressed as a guy to fool the other actors but still looks like a girl. This makes the film even worse (if that is possible). I would not recommend it at all.

Matt S. gave it a9:
As far as romantic comedies go, this one is just about perfect. I loved the fact that the movie itself used so many classical theatre devices, from a woman disguising herself as a man to the Deus ex Machina of Queen Elizabeth's surprise appearance in the movie's climax. The acting is superb, the direction and cinematography are perfect, and the story is fun and moving.

Pat C. gave it a10:
Like Shakespeare, has something for everyone. Understandably easier to follow for one who appreciates Shakespeare, and some of the contrivances may distract some (how did the queen sneak into the theatre unnoticed?) But in focus and impact a perfect film that reminds us of the roots and power of drama.

Pablo D. gave it a10:
A gorgeous monument to Shakespeare and his greater master-piece "Romeo & Juliet". This is one of the best pictures of all time.

Susan M. gave it a10:
Perfect movie, one of my favourites, Gwyneth is amazing, I could watch it a zillion times and never get bored.

Jonathan Z. gave it a7:
I can see why Shakespeare in Love won Best Picture back in 1998. I expected that’d it be a good date movie, but really, it’s a good film.

Shakespeare in Love Miramax Films

Shakespeare in Love
Miramax Films