A Midsummer Night's Dream

Released 1999
Stars Kevin Kline, Michelle Pfeiffer, Rupert Everett, Stanley Tucci, Calista Flockhart, Anna Friel, Dominic West, Christian Bale, David Strathairn, Sophie Marceau
Directed by Michael Hoffman

A Midsummer Night's Dream is arguably the best loved and most frequently performed of Shakespeare's comedies. Since it was first penned in the mid-1590s, the play has undergone numerous transformations, being variously re-invented as a musical, a ballet, and in more than a dozen films. The text also shows its great versatility with each new interpretation – depending on the director's vision, A Midsummer Night's Dream can be a light fantasy, a dark nightmare, a slapstick comedy, or a semi-serious melodrama. One might understandably wonder whether there's a pressing reason for a new motion picture version (other than that the climate, primed by Kenneth Branagh, is ripe for Shakespeare on the screen). But director Michael Hoffman deflects such criticism by presenting a rendering that is sufficiently contemporary and fresh.

While set design and atmosphere are critical to Hoffman's vision of the play (and represent the primary cues by which this version can be differentiated from its predecessors), Shakespeare's text still lies at the movie's heart. In a fantasy setting such as this, the flowery language works exceptionally well. The famous lines are all there: "The course of true love never did run smooth", "Lord, what fools these mortals be", "It seems to me that yet we sleep, we dream", and others. The Bard's flair for comedy comes across clearly, emphasized by some of Hoffman's visual contributions, including Hermia and Helena's mud wrestling and various characters' bicycle misadventures.

Summary written by James Berardinelli 

This movie left me cold because the first two acts completely lacked comedy. The direction transformed this light romantic romp into a serious romantic mix-up. I think the main problem was the seriousness of the magical characters. In particular, Puck (Stanley Tucci) lacked mischievousness. Instead of portraying Puck as a rascally imp who relished in his mistakes, Tucci played him as a fairy who earnestly tried to please his king. It's an interesting choice that robbed the play of its comedy. Then you have Calista Flockhart as the only member of the cast going for laughs, and she became a screeching example of fingernails on a chalkboard.

Despite all of this, I really enjoyed the final act. Once we get to see the performance of the townspeople's play (which resembles "Romeo and Juliet"), the comedy soars. The interesting aspect was how this play also maintained the level of humanity which ran through the entire film. It was an incredible balance, and I loved it. Tragical mirth, indeed. --Bill Alward, September 27, 2001