Shakespeare's fairy tale
"A Midsummer Night's Dream"
Overall Rating: ***
What can I say? I'm a sucker for Shakespeare. If they make a movie from one of Shakespeare's plays, I'll try to catch it.
Everyone has probably read "A Midsummer Night's Dream" in high school, but in case anyone's memory needs to be jogged, this is the one where Hermia (Anna Friel) and Lysander (Dominic West) are in love with each other, but Hermia is betrothed to Demetrius (Christian Bale). Meanwhile, Helena (Calista Flockhart) is madly in love with Demetrius, who is totally uninterested in her. Then the fairy Puck (Stanley Tucci) gets involved--clumsily--and things really get confused.
I find Shakespeare's play delightful. I sealed my reputation as a nerd in high school by laughing while we were reading it in twelfth-grade English class, and I still enjoy it. The story has a light, whimsical quality that makes it work.
This delightful play is brought to life by the actors. My first impression of Calista Flockhart's performance was that she was a bit whiny--but Helena needs to whine a bit, since she's being ignored by her true love, and Flockhart's performance gets better as the movie goes on. Stanley Tucci is delightful as Puck--he manages to capture Puck's sprightly nature wonderfully. Kevin Kline is without a doubt the star of the show, as Bottom--a bad actor who makes an ass of himself (or, rather, is made into one by Puck). Bottom is a sympathetic character, a bewildered pawn in the fairies' conflict, and a truly bad actor. Kline is marvelous in capturing all of Bottom's facets, and elegantly brings Shakespeare's character to life. Not to be overlooked in the shuffle are Roger Rees, Max Wright, Gregory Jbara, Bill Irwin, and Sam Rockwell, who all have bit parts as the other players (Peter Quince, Starveling, Snug, Tom Snout, and Flute respectively). The "tedious brief" play of "Pyramus and Thisby" saves the movie.
Not completely, however. If you want a case of good acting and writing being ruined--or at least marred--by a terrible production, look no further. The big problem is that director/screenwriter Michael Hoffman felt some perverse need to drag the play into 19th century Italy. For one laugh from Puck honking a bicycle horn, you must put up with constant discord between the spoken references to Athens (Shakespeare's setting) and captions and pictures putting things in Italy (Hoffman's setting). Compounding this error, the all male cast of "Pyramus and Thisby" makes no sense in an era that had actresses. Throw in a few written and spoken Italian snippets and accompanying, distracting subtitles, and the whole effort seems calculated to rip off from "Life Is Beautiful" and annoy Shakespearean purists. No wonder that every poster takes pains to remind us that it was written by William Shakespeare. The badly done sets and costumes don't help, either. If many of the trees and Puck's horns weren't actually plastic, they at least looked like they were made of plastic. Most of the bicycles looked like modern bikes rather than 19th century bicycles. Not all of the costumes, props, and sets are bad, but enough are bad to be distracting. Production wise, this movie is a zero.
While young kids almost certainly will be thrown by the Elizabethan language, the movie is probably suitable for teenagers. There are two caveats: every bit of sexual content in the play is accentuated in the movie, and significant nudity--most of it completely gratuitous--is added. While there's more nudity in "A Midsummer Night's Dream" than I thought was allowed in any PG-13 film, it's possible the people rating the film thought the educational value of teenagers actually seeing Shakespeare outweighed the "damage" that seeing a topless woman would do--a view I share. It didn't bother me, except from the historical aspect, but parents should be warned.
Parents--and non-parents--should also be warned: "A Midsummer Night's Dream" is terrible on a purely technical level. While we lament at "What fools these mortals be," however, we can take heart that love, good acting, and great writing conquer all.
Title: "A Midsummer Night's Dream"
Release date: April 26, 1999 (limited) / May 14, 1999 (nationwide)
MPAA rating: PG-13
Overall rating: ***
Overall Rating: ***
What can I say? I'm a sucker for Shakespeare. If they make a movie from one of Shakespeare's plays, I'll try to catch it.
Everyone has probably read "A Midsummer Night's Dream" in high school, but in case anyone's memory needs to be jogged, this is the one where Hermia (Anna Friel) and Lysander (Dominic West) are in love with each other, but Hermia is betrothed to Demetrius (Christian Bale). Meanwhile, Helena (Calista Flockhart) is madly in love with Demetrius, who is totally uninterested in her. Then the fairy Puck (Stanley Tucci) gets involved--clumsily--and things really get confused.
I find Shakespeare's play delightful. I sealed my reputation as a nerd in high school by laughing while we were reading it in twelfth-grade English class, and I still enjoy it. The story has a light, whimsical quality that makes it work.
This delightful play is brought to life by the actors. My first impression of Calista Flockhart's performance was that she was a bit whiny--but Helena needs to whine a bit, since she's being ignored by her true love, and Flockhart's performance gets better as the movie goes on. Stanley Tucci is delightful as Puck--he manages to capture Puck's sprightly nature wonderfully. Kevin Kline is without a doubt the star of the show, as Bottom--a bad actor who makes an ass of himself (or, rather, is made into one by Puck). Bottom is a sympathetic character, a bewildered pawn in the fairies' conflict, and a truly bad actor. Kline is marvelous in capturing all of Bottom's facets, and elegantly brings Shakespeare's character to life. Not to be overlooked in the shuffle are Roger Rees, Max Wright, Gregory Jbara, Bill Irwin, and Sam Rockwell, who all have bit parts as the other players (Peter Quince, Starveling, Snug, Tom Snout, and Flute respectively). The "tedious brief" play of "Pyramus and Thisby" saves the movie.
Not completely, however. If you want a case of good acting and writing being ruined--or at least marred--by a terrible production, look no further. The big problem is that director/screenwriter Michael Hoffman felt some perverse need to drag the play into 19th century Italy. For one laugh from Puck honking a bicycle horn, you must put up with constant discord between the spoken references to Athens (Shakespeare's setting) and captions and pictures putting things in Italy (Hoffman's setting). Compounding this error, the all male cast of "Pyramus and Thisby" makes no sense in an era that had actresses. Throw in a few written and spoken Italian snippets and accompanying, distracting subtitles, and the whole effort seems calculated to rip off from "Life Is Beautiful" and annoy Shakespearean purists. No wonder that every poster takes pains to remind us that it was written by William Shakespeare. The badly done sets and costumes don't help, either. If many of the trees and Puck's horns weren't actually plastic, they at least looked like they were made of plastic. Most of the bicycles looked like modern bikes rather than 19th century bicycles. Not all of the costumes, props, and sets are bad, but enough are bad to be distracting. Production wise, this movie is a zero.
While young kids almost certainly will be thrown by the Elizabethan language, the movie is probably suitable for teenagers. There are two caveats: every bit of sexual content in the play is accentuated in the movie, and significant nudity--most of it completely gratuitous--is added. While there's more nudity in "A Midsummer Night's Dream" than I thought was allowed in any PG-13 film, it's possible the people rating the film thought the educational value of teenagers actually seeing Shakespeare outweighed the "damage" that seeing a topless woman would do--a view I share. It didn't bother me, except from the historical aspect, but parents should be warned.
Parents--and non-parents--should also be warned: "A Midsummer Night's Dream" is terrible on a purely technical level. While we lament at "What fools these mortals be," however, we can take heart that love, good acting, and great writing conquer all.
Title: "A Midsummer Night's Dream"
Release date: April 26, 1999 (limited) / May 14, 1999 (nationwide)
MPAA rating: PG-13
Overall rating: ***
Aprox. run time: 120 min.
Director: Michael Hoffman
Writer: Michael Hoffman (screenplay), William Shakespeare (original play)
Stars: Kevin Kline, Michelle Pfeiffer (Titania), Rupert Everett (Oberon), Stanley Tucci, Calista Flockhart
Original URL: http://www.geocities.com/Hollywood/Mansion/7045/Midsumr.htm
Added to blog site: 7/28/09
Director: Michael Hoffman
Writer: Michael Hoffman (screenplay), William Shakespeare (original play)
Stars: Kevin Kline, Michelle Pfeiffer (Titania), Rupert Everett (Oberon), Stanley Tucci, Calista Flockhart
Original URL: http://www.geocities.com/Hollywood/Mansion/7045/Midsumr.htm
Added to blog site: 7/28/09
Labels: Movie review, ReviewsbyJohn
posted by John at 5/15/1999 05:09:00 PM
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