Amazon.com video review:
Imagine a work by Shakespeare reduced to one of those
pretty, glossy coffee-table picture books that have only a dollop of
text alongside its sumptuous photographs, and you might have Michael
Hoffman's adaptation of A Midsummer Night's Dream. This
all-star version of Shakespeare's comedy is gorgeously shot in
Tuscany, complete with a magical forest, breathtaking landscapes,
beautiful villas, picturesque villages, stunning period costumes--oh
wait, there's supposed to be a story here, too! Hoffman hijacks
Shakespeare's basic premise but doesn't instill it with much more than
surface shine and transplants it to turn-of-the-century Italy. Ergo,
it's left up to the actors to find the heart and soul of this classic
play, in which the fairies of the forest play mix and match with four
young lovers, courtesy of a magical love potion. Hoffman couldn't ask
for better (or better looking) actors to play Shakespeare's dreamlike
love games--Michelle Pfeiffer, Rupert Everett, Calista Flockhart,
Christian Bale, Stanley Tucci, Kevin Kline, Anna Friel, Dominic West,
the list goes on and on--but he sure as heck doesn't know what to do
with them, aside from putting them in various states of undress. Only
Flockhart (as the lovestruck Helena), Tucci (a sprightly Puck),
Pfeiffer (dazzling and funny as the queen of the fairies), and
especially the sublime Kline (as weaver-turned-donkey Bottom) seem to
connect with their characters in ways that make this adaptation
occasionally soar; the rest are inexplicably left to flounder. Hoffman
does seem to set himself right with the film's climax, when Bottom's
amateur acting troupe hilariously enacts the tale of Pyramus and
Thisbe (it helps that the troupe includes Roger Rees, Sam Rockwell,
and Bill Irwin). Those searching for a more in-depth exploration of
Shakespeare's farce might do better to look elsewhere, but if it's
gorgeous actors and scenery you're in the mood for (along with an
evocative opera soundtrack), and an all's-well-that-ends-well ending,
this Midsummer Night will give you pleasant if weightless
dreams. --Mark Englehart
