‘Shakespeare in Love’
This weekend, the long-awaited (long-hidden) period romance Tulip Fever hits theaters, with a screenplay adaptation from the great Tom Stoppard. And while Tulip Fever isn’t as bad as the game of hide-and-seek would have you believe, it’s not great, either, and you’d be much better served with another Tom Stoppard screenplay, this one far more successful: 1998’s Oscar-winning Shakespeare in Love. The film is a riotously clever, sparklingly written and acted affair that has a lot of fun with its subject matter. It’s light, yes, but that should in no way be a disparaging remark for something so nimble and buoyant and featuring great performances from Gwyneth Paltrow, Judi Dench, Geiffrey Rush, every great British actor you’ve ever heard of, and Ben Affleck.