Love's Labour's Lost [VHS]

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VHS Tape Cover Information

Actor: Alfred Bell, Carmen Ejogo, Daisy Gough, Richard Briers, Richard Clifford
Edition: VHS Tape
Audio: English (Original Language), Analog
Format: Closed-captioned, Color, NTSC
Running Time: 94 minutes
Release Date: 2000-12-19
Audience Rating: PG (Parental Guidance Suggested)
Publisher: Walt Disney Video
Studio: Walt Disney Video

VHS Movie Reviews of Love's Labour's Lost [VHS]

Movie Review: I Get a Kick out of You
Summary: 3 Stars

"Love's Labour's Lost" is an entertaining mash-up of a 1930's era musical with one of Shakespeare's slighter comedies. The combination is less seamless than one might have wished, but Kenneth Branagh and his photogenic cast coast on creamy charm. This flighty flick has all the nutritional value of a flute of champagne, but who says Shakespeare has to be good for you? After Branagh's epic, unabridged "Hamlet"--a four course meal if ever there was one--no one can blame him for whipping up this frothy dessert.

The fact that "LLL" is relatively unknown Shakespeare gives Branagh license to play fast and loose with his source material. This adaptation doesn't labor under the false pretense that it is anything more than it is - an old fashioned paean to old-fashioned movie musicals. Branagh sets the film in a Technicolor dreamscape that deliberately echoes the great musicals of yesteryear. The soundtrack features hummable hits by the likes of Irving Berlin, Gershwin, and Cole Porter, and the movie itself is a wholehearted embrace of old-school glamour: dapper tuxedoes, filtered cigarettes, chic hairdos, Busby-Berkeley water theatrics, and some burlesque-inspired broad comedy are all welcome throwbacks to a more stylish era.

A movie this bubbly and good-natured would be tough for even the most hardened cynic to resist. So call me a cynic, but for all its breezy charm "LLL" never quite hits the high notes of Branagh's first cinematic foray into Shakespeare comedy, "Much Ado About Nothing" (1993). Gussying up one of the Bard's less-produced plays as a retro musical was a nifty idea, but the movie never quite lives up to the promise of its cutesy conceit.

Part of the problem is that the cast's singing and dancing skills are not exactly up to snuff. The shaggy-dog amateurishness of the dance numbers adds to the movie's "let's put on a show!" charm, but any comparisons to Ginger Rogers or Fred Astaire would be downright insulting. (Adrian Lester excepted -- this incredible talent sings, dances, and performs "Hamlet" like he was born for the part. What can't he do?) The choreography is modest enough to not embarrass the untrained actors' equally modest abilities, and the occasionally off-key renderings of Broadway standards also have an oddly appealing quality. Nonetheless, this is a musical, after all, and the slipshod singing and dancing give the impression that Branagh slapped the production together in a manic fit of inspiration and didn't have the time or the resources to smooth out the rough patches.

Branagh enthusiasts (and I count myself among them) will get a kick out of the singing, dancing, and Bard-penned bantering. "LLL" is so light, it practically vanishes. Yet even if you can't remember exactly what transpired as the credits roll, you'll probably have a couple of catchy showtunes swimming in your head and a warm sense of soft-focus nostalgia for bygone days. There are worse ways to spend an evening.

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Summary of Love's Labour's Lost [VHS]

Having taken Shakespeare at his word on Hamlet (i.e., not cutting a single syllable out of a very long play), Kenneth Branagh selects a more radical approach with Love's Labour's Lost. Here the prolific director-star weeds out much of the play's dialogue and adds songs and dances of a decidedly modern bent. The King of Navarre (Alessandro Nivola, Nicolas Cage's wacko brother in Face/Off) and his three comrades (Branagh, Matthew Lillard, Adrian Lester) take a vow: no womanly distractions while they pursue their studies. Ah, but at that very moment, floating down a magical studio-built river, is the queen of France (Alicia Silverstone), accompanied by three ladies-in-waiting. You do the math. Branagh has set the tale on the eve of the Second World War, which allows for the inclusion of vintage pop songs, including "Cheek to Cheek," "The Way You Look Tonight," and a rousing chorus of "There's No Business Like Show Business," led by--who else?--Nathan Lane. The fact that most of the cast members are not accomplished song-and-dance folk is clearly meant to charm, but the results are spotty at best. Perhaps the most dynamic performer is Natascha McElhone (memorable from Ronin), whose aristocratic bearing and bottomless eyes lend a gravity to the material that is otherwise absent from Branagh's twinkly staging. The play contains some of Shakespeare's loveliest paeans to the language of love, yet Branagh seems to be in a hurry to juice everything up lest the audience lose interest. The labor shows. --Robert Horton

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