Love's Labour's Lost Review
by "Steve Rhodes" (Steve DOT Rhodes AT InternetReviews DOT com)July 24th, 2000
LOVE'S LABOUR'S LOST
A film review by Steve Rhodes
Copyright 2000 Steve Rhodes
RATING (0 TO ****): ***
On this, the 60th anniversary of that classic, sweetly hokey, but delightful romantic musical, LOVE'S LABOUR'S LOST from 1940, the studio is re-releasing it so that this generation can savor its charms. Based on the Shakespeare play of the same name, the movie features more song and dance numbers than you can count.
You do remember it don't you?
The biggest production number is set to "There's No Business Like Show Business." The famous songs include: "I Get A Kick Out Of You," "Just The Way You Look Tonight," "When We're Out Together Dancing Cheek To Cheek," "Let's Face The Music And Dance" and "They Can't Take That Away >From Me."
Directed by Kenneth Branagh, the large cast includes Kenneth Branagh, Alessandro Nivola, Alicia Silverstone, Natascha McElhone, Matthew Lillard, Adrian Lester, Timothy Spall, Nathan Lane, Stefania Rocca, Richard Clifford, Emily Mortimer and Carmen Ejogo. Although there aren't any Fred Astaires among them, they all sing and dance their hearts out, so much so that you'll find yourself singing away in the car afterwards.
Okay, so I lied. This is actually a new movie made very much in the spirit of an old one. Complete with a great film score and rich, oversaturated colors like the old Technicolor prints, this new film is an audacious homage to the musicals of old. It even has an Esther Williams-style synchronized swimming number.
The decidedly amateurish production is actually more interesting because of it. It is easy to picture yourself singing and dancing along with the actors. "Hey, if they can do it, so can I," you'll find yourself thinking.
Using fake, black-and-white newsreel footage, the movie sets the place and time as a small country in Europe just before the outbreak of World War II. The weakest part of the script is the play itself, not one of Shakespeare's better efforts. But this isn't a problem since, most of the time, the players are singing their hearts out and not speaking Elizabethan English. It is undeniably fun, however, to hear Alicia Silverstone (CLUELESS) uttering such lines as "I am too sudden bold."
It took a lot of guts for the cast to do this, knowing full-well that many critics would make fun of them since most do not appear to have had the proper musical training. The result is a good-spirited film that makes you want to sing and dance. How many movies have done that for you lately?
People are always asking me why they don't make musicals any more. Well, they do -- sometimes. This is one of the few, and it deserves a good-sized audience. See it when it plays your town. Unlike bad teen comedies and gory action flicks, which play for weeks and weeks, the run of musicals is, sadly, very short.
LOVE'S LABOUR'S LOST runs a very fast 1:33. It is rated PG for sensuality and a brief drug reference and would be fine for all ages.
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