Sorry to steal a great thread title but I just saw it for the first time this weekend. My only complaint is that Geoffrey Rush didn’t have a bigger part. I loved the gritty little details like the ink under his fingernails and the filthy streets. And in all that squalor the greatest love story ever is being written. And while we’re watching the story line, the movie itself follows a Shakespearean style! I’m keeping it an extra week to watch it again.
And who knew Ben Affleck could act??? 
I agree. Certainly the script is one of the cleverest ever written – and a great love story to boot. I was one of the most deserving best picture Oscar winners ever.
Gwyneth Paltrow without the benefit of a shirt! Works for me.
I think what make this movie work so well is that, despite all the liberties they they took with history, they showed a great respect for it at the same time. That is rare in film-making these days.
Oh, and it had Gwyneth Paltrow’s tits in it, too! 
I thought it was a great film, but quite a few people were pissed that it won 7 Oscars that year, including Best Film, beating out Saving Private Ryan.
Personally, I agree Shakespeare In Love was the better film, but it was not a popular choice at the time.
Wow, 14 minutes before the first “me like movie with titties in it” post. Might just be a record.
I’m not usually a big fan of romantic comedies (at least not recent ones; I do like many old b/w ones) and I’m also not a huge fan of Romeo and Juliet, but SiL is one that I thought was fantastic. I remember its being one of the few movies in which I and almost the entire audience was just transfixed. There wasn’t a sound in the theatre during the R&J play-within-a-play scene. Until of course my idiot ex-boyfriend decided that it would be the perfect time to wrench everyone out of it by popping open his smuggled can of Dr. Pepper (and yes I’m still a bit annoyed by it). I didn’t see Saving Private Ryan so I can’t really speak to which was “better” but I certainly have no quibble with SiL being selected as Best Picture. The only Oscar I disagreed with was Judi Densch for Best Supporting Actress. I thought her role was very slight to be considered and I thought that Lynn Redgrave was outstanding in Gods and Monsters.
Shakespeare In Love is one of the most intelligent movies ever made. It was respectful of the source material but not overwhelmed by it. It had good actors who were allowed to exercise their craft. It was filled with all kinds of theatrical in-jokes that only added to the enjoyment of the film. It gave us irony and tragedy and LOL comedy. It even gave us an explanation for death of Kit Marlowe, a subject that has engaged historians for years. I love this movie and watch it regularly, not for hidden jokes I missed, but just because it is so wonderful. Saving Private Ryan was a series of war cliches masquerading as a movie. Shakespeare In Love proves that movies can aspire to be art.
Long live Romeo and Ethel, the Pirate’s daughter.
No you weren’t.
Seriously, though, I agree wholeheartedly. It’s my favorite movie by a decent margin, and much better, IMHO, than Saving Private Ryan. Just a well-done movie all around.
I agree. Her role really didn’t reach the “supporting” level…more of an extended cameo.
As for liking movies with titties…so I’m shallow. Sue me!
I was actually referring to the post above yours. You’re not only shallow, you’re late.
I figured it was some sort of Freudian slip.
I loved the relationship with Shakespreare and Marlowe. The movie handled the dramatic irony of the situation (with Shakespeareacting like Marlowe’s inferior, while Marlowe acts the benificent superior) perfectly, giving no indication that they know how history will judge them.
Can’t it be both?
“I saw her bubbies!” from the cockney kid makes me laugh every time.
At the time of the Oscar, I was upset. I thought it was another horrid miss. How could such a great film like SPR lose? And to some romantic comedy? It wasn’t until a few years later that I watched SIL on DVD, and I immediately though “I was sooo wrong”. This movie deserved that award.
An fabulous script, great dialogue, wonderful acting, and dozens of in jokes and numerous clever turns (EVEN involving the casting, like having Ben Affleck, a big actor at the time in a small role in SIL, playing a big actor at the time in a small role in Shakespeare’s play!).
Just utter amazing.
I do too.
Yes, Ben Affleck was good in this thing. And it was clever. How many movies offer this level of wit and show this kind of love for their subject matter? It’s rare, and I enjoyed it a great deal.
… no surprise there as it was written by Tom Stoppard, one of the greatest living playwrights, and one of the few to successfully turn his hand to film scripts.
I also loved it. I loved the score, the story and the in-jokes, like the souvenir mug on Shakespeare’s desk. (There was one exchange that went like this, “Who’s that?” “Him, oh nobody. Just the writer.”) And the irony that Marlowe was famous, while Shakespeare was relatively unknown. Today, of course, it’s the other way round. And the kid who was so fascinated by the bloody scenes became another playwright. The ending is of course a reference to Twelfth Night. Gwynnth Paltrow looked radiant on stage during the play. (She was loaned a $250,000 necklace to wear to the Academy Awards and her father bought the necklace for her after.)
Co-written by Stoppard, and IIRC he was brought in more as a “finisher” after Marc Norman had writeen the bulk of the script.
I don’t know, I thought it was really good when I first saw it, but then kind of never felt like I wanted to watch it again and now years later feel relatively meh about it. I have the same thing for Gladiator and The Last Samurai: Loved them when I saw them, but since, meh. I’m not sure what exactly causes this.
I own SIL and watch it once or twice a year.
I well remember the backlash against the movie, I wonder if it was partly against the radiant Gwyneth. Dunno.
At the time, I took my then-9-year-old to see the film, and I remember his friends’ parents were horrified that I would do this, because of the sex, however cartoonish, in SIL. These same parents had no problem letting their kids see The Matrix. :rolleyes:
There are so many witty in-jokes and references in SIL. Not saying that I am any expert, but perhaps those who do not appreciate that kind of stuff will not see what the big deal is with the movie.
Loved the costumes, loved the music, loved the pacing.
And yeah, Judi Dench’s 8 or so minutes in SIL, however mighty, were probably not Oscar-worthy, and Ben Affleck acquitted himself well with his role. Joe Fiennes is swell. My favorite was Rupert Everett as Marlowe, his appearence is so brief but so effective.