It is very difficult to ruin Shakespeare. He is, afterall, one of the genuises of literature. And even though I studied Shakespeare extensively in college, As You Like It was not one of the plays I had read. ( I also skipped some of the Histories) But they had the DVD at my local library so I brought it home to watch.
Although Kenneth Branagh is an excellent actor, as a director, he is very hit-or-miss. His Hamlet (I’ll tell you about that later) was plodding and too long although it had some wonderful scenes. As You Like It is similar, with some great scenes and lots of good acting, but is missing something. There is something in the tone of the movie that makes it seem a little TOO tongue-in-cheek. The decision to have Orlando and his brother played by African American actors David Oyelowo and Adrian Lester was too long in coming but they did wonderfully in the acting of the parts. And Kevin Kline seems born to play in Shakespeare’s plays. Bryce Howard is a good actress but the whole scene with Rosalind and Orlando where Rosalind is convincing him to pretend to be wooing her rather than HIS Rosalind was over the top. So was Romola Garai. She is too modern looking to play Shakespeare convincingly and her enormous gaping mouth was distracting.
The final blow was the dance sequence at the end. There was no reason to put in something that took away from the rest of the movie. If the end and the Rosalind/Orlando scene had been different, it might have been a better film. As it stands, it is obvious why the film didn’t do well at the box office. Oh and that epilogue was ridiculous.
AS YOU LIKE IT (2006)
by Willam Shakespeare and Kenneth Branagh
Not Great But It Didn’t Suck
