Tom Stoppard’s script is a playful delight; the tone is exuberant and lively.

| Nov 1, 2023

Though set in the Bard's 16th Century, Shakespeare in Love is hipper, smarter and cleverer than any contemporary romantic comedy in recent memory.

| Original Score: 4/4 | Jan 5, 2023

Though weakened by feeble leads, Shakespeare in Love is nicely pepped by Marc Norman and Tom Stoppard's malicious script and a slew of great supporting performances.

| Jan 5, 2023

Outside the romance, it's also got great depth and insight into the nature of showbusiness.

| May 18, 2020

In a little more than two hours, director John Madden, screenwriters Marc Norman and Tom Stoppard and a terrific cast and crew accomplish the miraculous.

| Dec 18, 2018

It almost defies you not to have fun.

| Mar 2, 2018

There is plenty to be thrilled about.

| Feb 16, 2016

Sometimes it's the small things that provide the biggest delights. That's certainly the case with Shakespeare in Love, a tongue-in-cheek romance about the greatest romance ever written.

| Mar 17, 2015

All these funny, frenetic performances make for an enjoyable romp.

| Original Score: 5/5 | Mar 17, 2015

[An] inordinately clever, sprightly romantic comedy.

| Original Score: 3.5/4 | Feb 11, 2014

It restores to centrality of consciousness one of the great geniuses of our civilization. It makes us care for his greatness, for his passion, for his worth. In no uncertain terms, it tells us Willie Boy is still here.

| Feb 11, 2014

Scene after scene engages us as cheerful groundlings, tosses us jokes, toys with our expectations, then sweeps away the boundaries between film and stage, comedy and tragedy so we're open to the power of language and the feelings behind it.

| Feb 11, 2014

A triumph of talent and style over silliness.

| Original Score: 3/4 | Feb 11, 2014

Hilarious, sexy, clever, playful and as initially teasing as it is ultimately satisfying.

| Feb 11, 2014

I just wish that the script wasn't so insistent on showing off. Shakespeare, even when he kowtowed to the peasants, knew when to quit.

| Feb 11, 2014

Shakespeare In Love 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.

| Feb 11, 2014

You can't miss with a movie that speaks the language of love with such hotblooded delight. And in iambic pentameter, too.

| Feb 11, 2014

In addition to Fiennes, who does a star-making job here, and the radiant Paltrow, Shakespeare in Love teems with wonderful performances.

| Original Score: 3.5/4 | Feb 11, 2014

Shakespeare in Love crackles with the in-jokey brilliance that we associate with the playwright Tom Stoppard.... And you don't have to be a Shakespeare scholar to appreciate this movie's wit and easygoing references to the entertainment world today.

| Original Score: 4/4 | Feb 11, 2014

Sniping at what's already been celebrated as a major national triumph always looks not-quite-cricket, but Madden's film is transparently one of those things that the British Do So Well, and the Americans fund so handsomely.

| Feb 11, 2014