Anonymous

Name: Anonymous
Genre: Drama
Released: October 28, 2011
Duration: 130 min
Rating: 50
Cast: David Thewlis, Rhys Ifans, Vanessa Redgrave

2011

METASCORE

Mixed or average reviews based on 43 Critic Reviews

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USER SCORE

Generally favorable reviews based on 76 Ratings

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6.1	User Score Generally favorable reviews based on 76 Ratings

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Anonymous

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Movie Details & Credits

Columbia Pictures | Release Date: October 28, 2011 | PG-13

Starring: David Thewlis, Rhys Ifans, Vanessa Redgrave

Summary: Set in the political snake-pit of Elizabethan England, Anonymous speculates on an issue that has for centuries intrigued academics and brilliant minds ranging from Mark Twain and Charles Dickens to Henry James and Sigmund Freud, namely: who was the author of the plays credited to William Shakespeare? Experts have debated, books have beenSet in the political snake-pit of Elizabethan England, Anonymous speculates on an issue that has for centuries intrigued academics and brilliant minds ranging from Mark Twain and Charles Dickens to Henry James and Sigmund Freud, namely: who was the author of the plays credited to William Shakespeare? Experts have debated, books have been written, and scholars have devoted their lives to protecting or debunking theories surrounding the authorship of the most renowned works in English literature. Anonymous poses one possible answer, focusing on a time when cloak-and-dagger political intrigue, illicit romances in the Royal Court, and the schemes of greedy nobles hungry for the power of the throne were exposed in the most unlikely of places: the London stage. (Sony Pictures)

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Director: Roland Emmerich

Genre(s): Drama

Rating: PG-13

Runtime: 130 min

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Critic Reviews

Roger Ebert

Oct 26, 2011

Because of the ingenious screenplay by John Orloff, precise direction by Roland Emmerich and the casting of memorable British actors, you can walk into the theater as a blank slate, follow and enjoy the story, and leave convinced - if of nothing else - that Shakespeare was a figure of compelling interest. Read full review

Lawrence Toppman

Nov 3, 2011

Anonymous is fun – if you take the anti-Shakespearean tale as events set in an unreal, alternate universe. Read full review

Betsy Sharkey

Oct 27, 2011

William Shakespeare - whoever he was - I think would probably be at least a little amused by Anonymous. For amusing it is - along with bawdy, brazen, politically outrageous, plausible enough and occasionally graced with something close to Shakespearean cleverness in an absurdist sort of way. Read full review

Mary Pols

Oct 27, 2011

Emmerich has turned his attention to the past. He and screenwriter John Orloff have embraced a kitchen sink's worth of 20th-century conspiracy theories about the provenance of Shakespeare's plays, each wilder than the last. Oliver Stone's "JFK" looks reasonable compared to this. Read full review

Amy Biancolli

Oct 27, 2011

So if you don't mind, I'll just go back to believing that someone named Shakespeare (whoever he was) wrote Shakespeare's works. And I'll just go back to regarding them with awe. Read full review

Lisa Schwarzbaum

Oct 26, 2011

Thumpingly silly yet self-serious period-piece what-if. Read full review

Judith Newmark

Nov 6, 2011

The movie inspired theater critic Judith Newmark to write a sonnet in response. Read full review

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User Reviews

movieboy

Jan 26, 2012

Such venom, such wailing and gnashing of teeth, the cheek of the director spinning a yarn about the Bard. You might have thought he suggested Jesus was an alien. Good grief, it's entertainment folks. It's actually a wonderful film, pulsing with Elizabethan life. Great acting, funny, wild,Such venom, such wailing and gnashing of teeth, the cheek of the director spinning a yarn about the Bard. You might have thought he suggested Jesus was an alien. Good grief, it's entertainment folks. It's actually a wonderful film, pulsing with Elizabethan life. Great acting, funny, wild, compelling and gripping. So it's not exactly true. It's NOT a documentary. One of my favorites of 2011. I'm appalled so many critics slammed it.… Expand

1 of 4 users found this helpful13

cabrita

Nov 10, 2011

You can't go in to this movie expecting historical fact it must be taken a simply a story and a good exciting story it is. the movie has an exceptional screenplay and stylistic and appropriate direction from Roland Emmerich.

0 of 0 users found this helpful00

audreythomas25

Feb 18, 2016

It may be one of the signs of the apocalypse, but thanks to a well-written screenplay, spot-on performances, and a fantastic production design, Emmerich has finally made a great film.

Watch here for free http://www.watchfree.to/watch-26087d-Anonymous-movie-online-free-putlocker.html

0 of 0 users found this helpful00

musto95

Mar 6, 2012

My only complaint is that I found myself getting lost in the plot sometimes. But have no fear, all questions will be answered. In the end, it was quite enjoyable.

0 of 0 users found this helpful00

TVJerry

Nov 11, 2011

The basic premise: Shakespeare did not write his plays and poems, but this movie is anything but basic. The plot may be the most convoluted and confusing I've ever seen. Perhaps if you have a thorough understanding of Tudor history, it might make more sense. The story jumps around in timeThe basic premise: Shakespeare did not write his plays and poems, but this movie is anything but basic. The plot may be the most convoluted and confusing I've ever seen. Perhaps if you have a thorough understanding of Tudor history, it might make more sense. The story jumps around in time and involves all manner of intrigue in Queen Elizabeth's court. On the positive side, it never drags and looks good.… Expand

0 of 0 users found this helpful00

JennetP

Jan 20, 2012

Long ago, I had the privilege of hearing Jorge Luis Borges address the question of why people are so eager to claim that someone other than Shakespeare wrote Shakespeare's plays. Though he touched on the issue of class, Borges finally concluded that, by being an ordinary man who created aLong ago, I had the privilege of hearing Jorge Luis Borges address the question of why people are so eager to claim that someone other than Shakespeare wrote Shakespeare's plays. Though he touched on the issue of class, Borges finally concluded that, by being an ordinary man who created a near-miraculous body of work, Shakespeare made the rest of us feel small. We don't want to feel small, so we seek to make Shakespeare's achievement less by proposing an author with a dazzling pedigree, along with singular access to power and the insight it brings. Borges could not have described Emmerich more exactly. The director, who boasts of having "never enjoyed Shakespeare," takes the playwright down a peg or two (thousand) by making him a greedy, illiterate buffoon who couldn't write the "e" in "Hamlet," much less 118,406 lines of verse and prose. The "real" playwright is perennial favorite Edward de Vere, the Earl of Oxford, though, by the end of the film, Emmerich ennobles him so much beyond mere earldom that only God or Queen Elizabeth constitutes a more splendid candidate. Don't we all feel a bit less small? But "Anonymous" is a movie, not an article in "Shakespeare Quarterly," so we can forgive the hash it makes of politics, theatrical history, and the biographies of everyone from Ben Jonson to the Earl of Essex. We can forgive its perversity in skewing historical facts for no real dramatic purpose but seemingly just to slap the faces of Shakespeare-lovers. I can almost hear Emmerich saying, "I know it was Richard the Second that Essex's supporters commissioned in support of his rebellion, but I'll say it was Richard the THIRD. Ha ha ha! Take that, you pedants!" So, after we forgive all of these slights to the historical record, what are we left with? A slightly confusing story about the multi-generational political machinations of Elizabeth's Calvinist counsellors, the Cecils, and the deception, heartbreak, and misery they caused. Why does Oxford hire Shakespeare in the first place? Less because aristos shouldn't write plays than because he married a Cecil, and Calvinists abhor the theater. So, if not-entirely-clear Machiavellian deviousness on behalf of nascent English Puritanism floats your boat, then "Anonymous" is for you. Ditto if you're one of those folks who loves the so-called "authorship controversy" because you no longer have to sit quietly chewing your peas when someone brings up "Hamlet" (or the other 36 plays you haven't seen and/or read) at a dinner party. But if you're interested in Elizabethan theater, you might want to give "Anonymous" a a wide berth, despite its stellar cast and outstanding costume and set design. Something is deeply wrong when a film strives to produce authentic mud then grinds the greatest artists of an age into it.â… Expand

3 of 4 users found this helpful31

MrMehawk

Nov 8, 2011

The premise itself is a disgrace but at least the movie could have been shot and made competently. I don't think they did the premise justice, stressing again that I find the premise classist and inaccurate.

1 of 3 users found this helpful12

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