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LOVE'S LABOUR'S LOST Send This Review to a Friend
Fooling around with Shakespeare can be disastrous. The key word is talent. If you have a boring Hamlet all of the clever updating to make the Bard more contemporary is wasted. But talent abounds in director Kenneth Branagh's playful, joyful, musical confection built upon "Love's Labour's Lost," a giddy play that in itself is a merry romp and lends itself to the high-spirited and fun-filled entertainment tastefully and elegantly served by Branagh and company.
The story has been updated to 1939, which supplies the rationale for filling the soundtrack with such magical period songs as "Cheek to Cheek" by Irving Berlin; "I've Got a Crush on You" by George and Ira Gershwin; "I'd rather Charleston" by George Gershwin and Desmond Carter; "I Won't Dance" by Jerome Kern; "The Way You Look Tonight" by Kern and Dorothy Field, and "Let's Face the Music and Dance" and "There's No Business Like Show Business," both by Berlin. With a score like that it is tough to miss, particularly when you have Branagh's delightful cast, himself included, to dance and sing in a way that aims to make it all in fun rather than soar to musical heights.
The broad story involves the King of Navarre, charmingly portrayed by Alessandro Nivola, who along with his three pals (Branagh, Matthew Lillard and Adrian Lester) take an oath to do without women for three years in favor of spending their energies on the study of philosophy. Not bloody likely, especially when Alicia Silverstone as the Princess of France and her tempting attendants, played by Natascha McElhone, Emily Mortimer and Carmen Ejogo, arrive on the scene to test such noble intentions. Love will find a way.
I found special enjoyment in the performance of the striking looking McElhone. Although Silverstone also conveys her own brand of sparkle, the Shakespearean dialogue seems a bit of a mouthful for her. The clowning chores fall mainly to Nathan Lane as Costard, a vaudevillian, and Timothy Spall as Don Armado, a Spanish nobleman, and both earn plenty of laughs. Distinguished actress Geraldine McEwan adds a touch of class to the production with polish that shines even through all the horseplay.
Branagh, whose talent matches his risk-taking, is abetted by Stuart Hopps's jolly choreography and Anna Buruma's colorful costuming, and the film, which amusingly breaks into song in the tradition of the Hollywood musical, brims with visual ideas, such as cast members suddenly rising like balloons to enhance a musical number. The film, in the hands of cinematographer Alex Thomson, looks bright and airy.
The working out of the plot in Branagh's adaptation to involve the fall of France to the Nazis and the need for a hiatus before all could be resolved is bit of a stretch. But why quibble? Here's an opportunity to brush up your Shakespeare and have a grand time by getting into the spirit of this updated comedy that's all in fun and in good hands from the acting to the score. A Stanley Donen and Martin Scorsese presentation and a Miramax Films release.
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