--- title: "Shakespeare in Love: the reviews" canonical: "https://film.one/film/shakespeare-in-love/reviews" title_page: "https://film.one/film/shakespeare-in-love" critics_score: 76 critics_reviews: 17 licence: "© Fi1m Ltd. Written by AI under a human editor; checked against sources before publication. Quote with attribution and a link to the canonical URL." --- # Shakespeare in Love (1998): what the critics said Critics' score 76 from 17 reviews: 14 positive, 2 mixed, 1 negative. Most critics enjoy it, and the praise lands on the script. The screenplay by Marc Norman and Tom Stoppard is named again and again for its wit, its anachronisms and its jokes about how Romeo and Juliet came to be written. Gwyneth Paltrow and Joseph Fiennes come next, several reviews crediting their chemistry with carrying the romance, and the supporting cast, Judi Dench and Ben Affleck especially, gets steady notice. The Elizabethan stagecraft and backstage business earn almost as much comment as the love story. The reservations are about weight. A handful of reviews find it slight, safe or too eager to please everyone. The Guardian thinks it stops short of real comic flair; The AV Club thinks John Madden lets the thinner serious side crowd out the clever marginal touches; The New Yorker finds the opening weak. The spread is narrow, with one outlier: Slant calls it a costumed mess and objects to how Shakespeare himself is drawn. ## The Telegraph Rating 5/5. 12 September 2014. The critic calls the film an enjoyable romp with a light, racy tone, witty anachronisms and punning dialogue that captures Shakespeare's bawdiness. They single out the strong ensemble performances, especially Judi Dench as Queen Elizabeth and Ben Affleck as Ned Alleyn, for praise. [Read the review](https://www.telegraph.co.uk/films/2016/04/18/shakespeare-in-love-film-review/) ## RogerEbert.com — Roger Ebert Fi1m's normalised score 90/100 (inferred from the text). 25 December 1998. The critic praises the film's wit, energy, and sweetness, noting how it reminds viewers that Shakespeare was once a young playwright on the make and that theater is as much business as show. He highlights the sweet love story, court intrigue, and backstage politics as elements that carry the audience along. [Read the review](https://www.rogerebert.com/reviews/shakespeare-in-love-1998) ## The Hollywood Reporter — David Hunter Fi1m's normalised score 90/100 (inferred from the text). 11 December 1998. The critic calls the film a wonderfully entertaining crowd-pleasing romp full of sex, sacrifice and sonnets that should enjoy mainstream success. They single out the recreation of Elizabethan times and stagecraft along with the imagined romance and genesis of Romeo and Juliet. [Read the review](https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/movies/movie-news/shakespeare-in-love-review-movie-1998-1166663/) ## The Independent — Anthony Quinn Fi1m's normalised score 90/100 (inferred from the text). 28 January 1999. The critic praises the film as a witty, multi-layered romp that blends romance, satire on art and commerce, and a celebration of the creative process. He singles out the ingenious screenplay by Tom Stoppard and Marc Norman, along with the chemistry between Joseph Fiennes and Gwyneth Paltrow, for making it an engaging and triumphant historical comedy. [Read the review](https://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/film-the-big-picture-the-proud-tower-of-genius-1076722.html) ## The New York Times — Janet Maslin Fi1m's normalised score 90/100 (inferred from the text). 11 December 1998. The critic calls the film pure enchantment, praising its exhilarating cleverness in speculating about the origins of Romeo and Juliet and its love of language and beauty. She singles out Gwyneth Paltrow's performance as a breathtaking heroine who seems utterly plausible as the playwright's guiding light. [Read the review](https://www.nytimes.com/1998/12/11/movies/film-review-shakespeare-saw-a-therapist.html) ## Variety — Lael Loewenstein Fi1m's normalised score 90/100 (inferred from the text). 7 December 1998. The critic says the film makes Shakespeare accessible, entertaining and fun for modern audiences, calling it exquisitely acted, tightly directed and impressively assembled. She praises the impassioned acting of Paltrow and Fiennes and the lovely seamless result from the screenplay by Norman and Stoppard. [Read the review](https://variety.com/1998/film/reviews/shakespeare-in-love-1200456294/) ## The Times — James Christopher Fi1m's normalised score 80/100 (inferred from the text). 28 January 1999. The critic praises the film as a thrilling, sentimental and hilarious celebration of theatre's magic and the haphazard creative process, with a sophisticated modern sensibility applied to Renaissance theatre folk. It singles out the performances of Paltrow and Fiennes and the way the play maps the lovers' destiny. [Read the review](https://www.thetimes.com/article/shakespeare-in-love-l8sfczx82br) ## Empire — Ian Nathan Fi1m's normalised score 70/100 (inferred from the text). The critic calls it a delightful success that cleverly fuses wit, comedy and romance while playing with Shakespearean lore and theatrical history. He highlights the playful script, strong supporting cast including Ben Affleck, and the film's energetic, brainy crowd-pleasing qualities despite some reservations about the central romance. [Read the review](https://www.empireonline.com/movies/reviews/shakespeare-love-review/) ## Los Angeles Times — Kenneth Turan Fi1m's normalised score 70/100 (inferred from the text). 11 December 1998. The critic describes the film as a happy conceit smoothly executed, one of those entertaining confections pleasing to the eye and ear. He singles out the drollness associated with co-writer Tom Stoppard and the rare ability to wear its cleverness with grace and ease. [Read the review](https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1998-dec-11-ca-52754-story.html) ## Sight and Sound — Philip Kemp Fi1m's normalised score 70/100 (inferred from the text). 1 February 1999. The critic describes the film as a lively, eclectic mix of romance, farce, satire and literary gags that works well as a whole. Particular praise goes to the strong ensemble acting and the chemistry between the leads. [Read the review](http://old.bfi.org.uk/sightandsound/review/40) ## The New Yorker — David Denby Fi1m's normalised score 70/100 (inferred from the text). 14 December 1998. The critic notes that the film begins badly but ends well, turning into an exciting literary-erotic entertainment once the lovers meet. He praises how the presumption about Shakespeare's inspiration is earned and how the movie delivers as a fantasia on the composition of Romeo and Juliet. [Read the review](https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/1998/12/21/will-in-the-west-end) ## Time Out — NB Fi1m's normalised score 70/100 (inferred from the text). 29 March 2012. The review calls the film a busy, populist period comedy that mixes heritage elements with modern irreverence. It singles out Tom Stoppard’s witty script for special praise along with the well-matched cast. [Read the review](https://www.timeout.com/movies/shakespeare-in-love) ## The AV Club — Keith Phipps Fi1m's normalised score 65/100 (inferred from the text). 29 March 2002. The critic finds the film generally entertaining but terribly slight, praising the clever marginal touches likely from co-screenwriter Tom Stoppard while noting that director John Madden lets the story's less developed serious side overshadow them. [Read the review](https://www.avclub.com/shakespeare-in-love-1798196031) ## The Guardian — Jonathan Romney Fi1m's normalised score 60/100 (inferred from the text). 29 January 1999. The critic views the film as a witty but ultimately safe and packaging-driven romantic farce that plays it safe to please everyone, with in-jokes for literati and heritage prestige elements. It singles out the clever interplay between life and art in the script, particularly the way the romance inspires the play, while noting it falls short of true comic flair. [Read the review](https://www.theguardian.com/film/News_Story/Critic_Review/Guardian/0,4267,36510,00.html) ## Slant Magazine — Chris Cabin Fi1m's normalised score 20/100 (inferred from the text). 23 February 2012. The critic calls the film a thunderous mediocrity and a beautifully costumed and designed mess that is amiable yet nonsensical, singling out its contemptuous portrayal of Shakespeare as a loathsome cad for complaint while praising the Blu-ray transfer of its technical aspects and design. [Read the review](https://www.slantmagazine.com/dvd/shakespeare-in-love/) ## Collider — Jeff Huston Fi1m's normalised score 90/100 (inferred from the text). 21 March 2019. The critic argues that Shakespeare in Love is a better and more substantial film than Saving Private Ryan and deserved its Best Picture win. They single out the witty, literate screenplay by Tom Stoppard and Marc Norman, along with the rapturous central romance and strong ensemble performances, as standout elements. [Read the review](https://collider.com/why-shakespeare-in-love-deserved-to-win-best-picture/) ## Eye for Film — Angus Wolfe Murray Fi1m's normalised score 85/100 (inferred from the text). 19 January 2001. The critic praises the film's clever, witty script by Marc Norman and Tom Stoppard, which mixes Elizabethan language with irony, laughter, and romance without feeling ponderous. Performances by Gwyneth Paltrow and Joseph Fiennes are singled out as sublime, with strong direction from John Madden bringing energy and style. [Read the review](https://www.eyeforfilm.co.uk/review/shakespeare-in-love-film-review-by-angus-wolfe-murray) --- © Fi1m Ltd. Written by AI under a human editor; checked against sources before publication. Quote with attribution and a link to the canonical URL. Our review: https://film.one/film/shakespeare-in-love.md