Film Review of A Midsummer Nights Dream
Year: 1999 Reviewer: Chris Docker
Wonderful scenery in the opening few scenes and glorious opera and classics throughout. Sadly the acting is more in the old ages of Laurence Oliver's "passionate wood" school of acting. For those viewers who have been spoiled with Shakespeare as directed by Branagh, Polanski or Baz Luhrmann, this offering of Midsummer Night's Dream hardly comes up to scratch. The great exception is Anna Friel. Except when her Northern accept seeps through, she shows herself to be a very gifted actress. The rest of the cast seem more like they're "doing Shakespeare" for the fun of it or to have it on their CVs. Flockhart's Ally McBeal character doesn't sit well, , and the rest are thrown together in what looks like a Dr Doolittle meets Danny Kaye. The film almost comes alive though towards the end in the "play within a play" - the performances then at least seem a little more sincere and we don't have to be continually distracted by the mishmash of various English and American accents. Nice effort, but that's all - except for the fact that Shakespeare can be enjoyed, if enunciated well (as it is in this movie), even when the acting isn't up to standard.
Rating: 4/10
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