A visually delightful but curiously flat adaptation...
Comment
07/04/08
A Midsummer Night's Dream (1999)
68
%
Tomatometer
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Reviews Counted:74
Fresh:50
Rotten:24
Average Rating:6.3/10
Consensus: Faultless production and shining performances display the Bard's talent propitiously.
Runtime: 2 hrs
Genre: Comedies
Synopsis: Michael Hoffman's film adaptation of Shakespeare's magical comedy of a love-tangled quadrangle shimmers with sumptuous cinematography and a truly stellar cast that includes Kevin Kline, Michelle... [More]
Starring: Kevin Kline, Michelle Pfeiffer, Rupert Everett, Calista Flockhart
Director: Michael Hoffman
Reviews for A Midsummer Night's Dream
Top CriticInjecting the film with fun and pathos, Kline makes a superb Bottom; it's his play and he acts it to the hilt.
02/09/06
Top CriticSporting a shamelessly commercial all-star cast and textually shorn to make a comfortable, diverting two-hour flick, it's the lack of intellectual pretensions that finally makes this version so endearing.
03/03/02
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10/18/08
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08/07/08
Your high school English teacher would approve, and parts are terrifically enjoyable.
07/04/08
Bathed in sunshine, stardust and star power, this 'Dream' should be required viewing for anyone who insists Shakespeare is stuffy and dull. ...this is Shakespeare for the masses.
08/05/07
I remain skeptical about the ability of even the best American actors to read Shakespeare's lines without giving the impression that they are enduring very painful cultural root canal work.
04/27/07
It has fun and makes you laugh.
06/03/06
If there is sacrilege afoot, I'm not enough of a scholar to spot it.
07/21/05
The execution of the Bard's comic work is less than sparkling.
04/09/05
It's a wildly entertaining romp that should delight fans of this year's Oscar-winner Shakespeare in Love.
04/07/04
As a movie, unfortunately, it doesn't quite jive.
05/22/03
What joy to hear an entire film audience roar with glee at Moonshine, Lion and Wall.
05/20/03
Michael Hoffman's adaptation of Shakespeare's A Midsummer Night's Dream is a delightful way to spend the summer solstice evening, or any other, for that matter.
02/08/03
The film is never a chore to watch, but others have done better by the Bard.
11/06/02
Unfortunately, despite the wonderful locations, sets, costumes, and strong acting, this adaptation has a strange lack of magic or chemistry between players.
06/23/02
Top CriticHoffman, who did the adaptation himself, cuts and pastes portions of the play into his movie with a clunky hand. And the avalanche of star power nearly sinks the ship.
04/03/02
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03/24/02
Top CriticHoffman charts a middle course, and travels it quite well -- his version is neither as elaborately baroque as Max Reinhardt's 1935 film treatment nor as starkly sexual as Peter Brooks's celebrated 1970 staging.
03/19/02
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