A great and glorious dose of cinema which won seven Oscars, including Best Actress for Gwyneth Paltrow and Best Picture. This colourful and rumbustious tale of late 16th-century England gets its anachronistic jokes - even these are funny, like the mug marked 'A present from Stratford-on-Avon' - out of the way in the first reel and launches full-tilt into the near-fatal attraction of penniless playwright Will Shakespeare (Joseph Fiennes) for the high-born Lady Viola (Paltrow) who yearns to become the first Englishwoman to appear on the stage. In no time she's auditioning dressed as a youth and has won the role of Romeo in Will's new play. This not only unlocks his writer's block but leads to his headlong (and headstrong) pursuit of Viola (female variety), using her male counterpart as a go-between. Wittily written, richly set and vigorously directed by John Madden, the film succeeds at pretty well every direction it cares to turn. Fiennes and Paltrow (another amazing English accent) are convincing both as lovers and actors. In a starry cast, Tom Wilkinson, Antony Sher, Judi Dench (as The Queen), Geoffrey Rush and Imelda Staunton all have golden moments.