Much like the Oscar-winning drama "The Hours" you get the feeling that this movie is shaped by the writer's whimsy while he is participating in the chaos that creates the whimsy that produces the chaos. Get all that? Great. In the golden age of Elizabeathen Theatre there are two competing playhouses in London: The Curtain and The Rose. The Curtain enlists the crowd-favorite Kit Marlowe (Rupert Everett), and The Rose, run by struggling buisnessman Phillip Harlowe (Geoffrey Rush), employs rising star Will Shakespeare (Joseph Fienes).
The Curtain has a new play and The Rose has a writer with a bad case of writer's block and a very earnest debt collector (Tom Watkinson). Soon Will sees Viola De Lesseps (Gwyneth Paltrow) and they fall madly in love. With this new passion he can renew work on "Romeo and Ethel, the Pirate's Daughter". Eventually however Viola must be sent off to marry Lord Wessex's (Colin Firth), a man who is trading his title for her money, and Viola will be sent off to a dreadful place called Virginia. The tragedy of his doomed love affair finds it's way into Will's new play as well and a significant name change takes place.
There are underdrawn characters (Ben Affleck's specifically) here but there is also such a rare thing in this movie, the likes of which Hollywood has rarely seen: there is heart. The script dazzles with Shakespearian humor - both high and low - and wit and such a truthful romance.
The cast is sterling: Ben Affleck, as a slightly vain actor/mentor to Will, showcases a potent new dramatic force. While Colin Firth, Geoffrey Rush, and Tom Watkinson are hilarious enough to each elicit their own spin-off movies. Joseph Fienes has the eyes and the voice to make us fully entranced with his Bard. Judi Dench, in a set of galloping cameos, is a royal treat, and Gwyneth Paltrow finally has a movie that is as positively radiant and joyful as she is. Together both her and the movie simply shine.
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