Casanova is a silly film. Half Carry On, half Shakespearean comedy, everyone in it is perfectly nice and should reassemble to make a great Twelfth Night.

| Feb 12, 2020

| Original Score: 2/5 | Apr 1, 2006

Overall, Casanova is silly but amusing.

Full Review | Jan 18, 2006

Hallstrm's latest is fine but unambitious, content with what it is -- an arthouse trifle for the masses.

| Original Score: 3/5 | Jan 8, 2006

The whimsical plot, involving Casanova's seduction of a cross-dressing feminist, isn't helped by director Lasse Hallstrom's leaden hand.

Full Review | Original Score: 2/4 | Jan 6, 2006

Despite its oh-so deviant title character, Casanova is a harmless bon-bon, a breezy period farce that mimics lesser Shakespeare and a look that recalls Amadeus or Shakespeare in Love.

| Original Score: 2.5/4 | Jan 6, 2006

A ribald, witty costume comedy filled with delightful performances and wily plot turns, this is the sort of film that makes you wonder why more films like this aren't made.

| Original Score: B+ | Jan 6, 2006

Casanova finds [director] Hallstrom more inspired, or at least lively and engaged, than he has been in years, and he's in the company of the actor of the moment.

Full Review | Original Score: 3/4 | Jan 6, 2006

There's less sexiness in the awful Casanova than in the downbeat, doomed gay love story featuring Ledger in Brokeback Mountain.

| Original Score: 1/4 | Jan 6, 2006

Although Casanova is far from a stinker, I can't join in the chorus of praise for what is essentially a coy farce replete with arch performances and even archer dialogue.

| Original Score: C+ | Jan 5, 2006

This is easily the liveliest Hallstrom has been in almost a decade.

Full Review | Original Score: B | Jan 5, 2006

The great discovery of this Casanova is Hallstrm's recovered capacity for play.

| Original Score: B | Jan 4, 2006

This is a sexy, loose, lively and completely intoxicating performance, and as much as I like Donald Sutherland and Bob Hope I'll take Ledger's take on the iconic character over theirs any day.

| Original Score: 2.5/4 | Jan 3, 2006

I admit that the picture is handsomely designed in gold and pale blue, but none of the tumult and pomp have any dramatic, comic, or erotic effect whatsoever.

Full Review | Jan 3, 2006

It tries to be a mildly post-modern version of a very traditional door-slamming farce, with a headache-inducing mish-mash of false identities and near-misses, all of which seem more of a distraction than an entertainment.

Full Review | Original Score: C+ | Jan 2, 2006

Is it Oscar bait? Not in the least. But it's a great date flick and perfect for a time full of all those 'serious' films.

| Dec 31, 2005

This is the very definition of an entertaining period piece romp. It's a romp, I tell ya!

Full Review | Dec 29, 2005

A handsome chunk of widescreen entertainment that's as nimble as its rakish hero.

| Dec 27, 2005

Pretty as the picture is, only Platt's engaging performance keeps it from fading out.

Full Review | Original Score: 2.5/4 | Dec 27, 2005

Ledger is no Casanova, and the movie is not what it should be, but once that is accepted, the movie can be appreciated for the jolly, lightweight thing it is.

| Original Score: 2/4 | Dec 27, 2005