Shakespeare in Love (1998)

Director: John Madden*

Cast: Gwyneth Paltrow, Joseph Fiennes, Geoffrey Rush, Colin Firth

Have I Seen it Before: Oh, sure. It’s surprising to realize I haven’t re-watched this one since starting these reviews nearly 2 1/2 years ago.

Did I Like It: There’s just something about Best Picture winners fro the late 1990s. They age very poorly. I’m mainly looking in your direction, American Beauty (1999). This one, too gets a little bit of derision, but as I’ve already mentioned, it is one of my favorites.

Repackaging the bard as a the prototypical romantic comedy lead works in spades. Doing so gleefully unravels the film from anything resembling historical accuracy, but if you need movies to be historically accurate, I’m beginning to think you don’t get much enjoyment out of life, and that you are perpetually disappointed by your unrealistic expectations of the world. Scenes of the author struggling with his work similarly likely have no basis in reality, but they feel true, which is all we can ask from a film.

Sure, just the mention of Harvey Weinstein makes one’s blood run cold. Also, it’s hard to forget during the film that much of it is centered on a performance from a performer now is now arguably more famous for producing and selling candles which smell like her genitals. On that note, both Paltrow and Affleck do just above Costner-level work to convince us they’re English. It doesn’t help matters. But these are nitpicks—except for the Weinstein part—of a movie that largely holds up and is definitely worth another look.

* No matter how many times I see this movie, I always chuckle as I imagine the famed footballman calling the shots. For the record, I know it is a different John Madden.

Bridget Jones’ Diary (2001)

Director: Sharon Maguire

Cast: Renée Zellweger, Colin Firth, Hugh Grant, Gemma Jones

Have I Seen it Before: Yes? It’s a favorite of my wife, and we’ve been together for long enough that I would have had to have watched in its entirety, right? And yet, can I be sure?

Did I Like It: It is difficult to dislike a movie like this. Zellweger is far more convincing and charming as the quintessential British everywoman than she has any right to be. Firth is at the purest point of his Firthyness muttering his way through every interaction. It was probably desperately needed for Grant to occasionally no longer be portrayed as a lovable handsome man, when in reality he is far more believable as—to bother a term—complete and utter wanker.

But let’s get to my Big Thought for this movie. For my money, Bridget Jones’ Diary is the Rocky IV (1985) of romantic comedies.

Wait. Don’t go. Let me finish.

While both the boxing movie and the romantic comedy are certainly prone to the montage to help their stories, let me ask you a question. Were one to take the montages out of either movie and let their stories play out not with characters looking wistful or forthright on their own, but instead with scenes where the characters actually interact and speak with each other (or at all), how long would the film actually end up running?

My guess is about 45 minutes.

I’m not even sure that’s a problem, necessarily. I’m a sucker for a silent movies, and I’m sure whichever conglomerate go to press the soundtrack album for those films made a mint. I just can’t help but wonder if ultimately there just wasn’t enough movie there, thus the padding. There are worse crimes for a movie, one supposes.

I didn’t expect at the outset of this review that it would double as review for both Bridget Jones Diary and Rocky IV, but here we are. The temptation to now re-watch Rocky IV and just republish the review is almost too much to bear.