Save your money for something good and enjoyable

Please don't spend money on this.

It is encouraging that the film ends so strongly.Otherwise, it wouldn't have been a particularly memorable film

A terrific literary drama and character piece that shows how the process of creating art can be seen differently by those doing it and those looking at it from the outside.

As an avowed lover of Shakespeare Branagh has an odd way of demonstrating his affection. His versions of the plays are vastly edited, adumbrated, hacked and stuffed into curiosities.This one is the most bizarre. It is barely the real play "Love's Labours Lost", which is, by most reckoning, not a very good play, and like many Shakespeare comedies suffers from his often irritating humor. Onto that Branagh imposes musical numbers and then again he has a real in-joke using 1940s newsreel with his arch accent as a way of editing the play which is very heavily cut by at least an hour in length.So he packs a cut version of a play into less time and uses two other artistic/media styles into a shorter length. It's a not even the play; he might have called it, "Some Songs and Dance on Old Bill".Walter Benjamin might have used this film in his essay, "The Work of Art in the Age of Mechanical Reproduction" as an example of how facile it is to transfer properties into a broth which is disingenuous.It takes gall and conceit to construct something that is not one thing nor anything else; that is a travesty on any measure. It's atrocious Shakespeare; it's even more degrading as Busby Berkeley musical as no one can really sing or dance; and as a piece of direction it is starchy, inelastic and very English in all the worst of all possible ways.Murder most foul is the Shakespeare line that comes to mind.

I love Shakespeare and musicals, and I have a great respect for Kenneth Branagh. Love's Labour's Lost was not as bad as I'd heard, but I can actually understand the criticisms as while it does have its charms it is a heavily flawed film. The play is one of Shakespeare's weakest due to how overly-wordy it is, so I knew that when I heard about this film that it can go either way. I will start off by saying that Branagh does deserve credit for trying to make Shakespeare's work accessible to wider audiences, but it uncharacteristically came in mixed results here. I often praise Branagh for his respect and understanding for Shakespeare, but his other films especially Much Ado Nothing, Hamlet and Henry V did this much better. Other than the title and some of the dialogue, which is not the most poetic and witty Shakespeare has done but has evidence of both, there's not really enough that of that Shakespeare feel. That is largely because while making a noble attempt to make the play accessible Branagh oversimplifies the writing and consequently loses the story's consequently making it here thin and too much of an excuse to string song-and-dance numbers one or another.Another consequence is that as a directing job it is on the unimaginative side and feels like too much West End not enough Branagh. There are also two miscasts. Matthew Lillard is a tall, handsome and likable guy, but here he constantly sounds and looks like he's got something up his nose. Even more problematic is Alicia Silverstone, who I liked in Clueless, but I thought she was pretty awful here both as a singer-dancer and as a Shakespearean actor, she can barely sing a note without being breathy and out of tune and is often behind the beat in the singing, and in terms of acting her delivery is always forced and awkward especially in the darker shift of tone. Finally, I usually like Timothy Spall a lot but his I Get a Kick Out of You was for me an embarrassment.On the plus side, the 30s setting is evoked absolutely beautifully, and it is well filmed too. The songs from the likes of Cole Porter, George Gershwin, Irving Berlin are outstanding, and the dancing sequences in the film do have a lot of charm and pizazz, especially Let's Face the Music and Dance, There's No Business Like Show Business and They Can't Take That Away from Me. Even though the singing is not exactly great, it isn't entirely awful, the best voice of the entire cast easily comes from Carmen Ejogo. The characters are not that developed, due to the oversimplifications but do have a lot of easy-going charm and likability that I can't hate them. Some members of the cast, namely Branagh, Richard Briers and Geraldine McEwan do show an understanding of Shakespeare, how it should sound and feel. I did like most of the performances. Branagh is not entirely convincing age-wise but is enthusiastic at least in his role. Briers and McEwan are splendid, while Nathan Lane is hilarious. I especially loved Natascha McElhone and Adrian Lester. McElhone plays her role with such beauty and depth, and Lester is sublime in his equally sublime musical set piece.All in all, has its charms but for me it is not one Branagh's finest hours. 6/10 Bethany Cox

This production is indeed a worthy entry into the world of Shakespeare on DVD. Right now the only significant DVD productions of Love's Labour's Lost are the BBC production from the 1980s, and this one. There is a Globe Theatre production out on DVD this year, but I know nothing about it.To get back to the two main DVD productions -- the BBC's is minimalist, due to their low budget, and wordy, rapidly spoken, and hard to understand, yet devoid of subtitles. I don't consider it perfect by any means, for those reasons. In fact, it can be quite off-putting and dull.Branagh's, on the other hand, is easily understood, has subtitles available, and is clearly spoken with modern pronunciation. Likewise, scenes that bear dwelling on and getting the most juice out of -- such as the end -- are dealt with lovingly and languidly, as they should be, whereas in the BBC version they just whiz by.The controversial things about Branagh's production are the addition of songs and the deletion of substantial portions of the text. However, I must say, that to get across the gist of the play, many of the scenes deleted by Branagh are not needed, and some of them are in fact irrelevant and irritating to a modern audience, and so justly removed.Lastly, the musical numbers, which are the most controversial: I felt that there were a few too many musical numbers, and several of them were overproduced to the extent they seemed silly and out of place. That said, I did not object in principle to the presence of the songs. I think Branagh just got carried away with the number of them and with the over-the-topness of some of them.I'll sum up as follows: If you are new to this play -- which is one of Shakespeare's wordiest and in a sense most difficult, I recommend availing yourself of BOTH the BBC version AND of this Branagh version. Having seen both, I think you will have gotten the gist and thrust and enjoyment of the play in a way that neither production would give you on its own. I think the stuffy wordiness of the BBC production needs to be balanced by this Branagh version, and the breezy modernism of the Branagh version can stand to be completed by the unabridged BBC version. Enjoy!

Boy, Kenneth Branagh will try anything, won't he? Even infusing Shakespeare's comedy with a string of Gershwin-era songs and dances. But while his Much Ado About Nothing was a frothy, wonderful gem, Love's Labour's Lost . . . just didn't quite work. It's a noble try, though.Whether the concept itself is flawed is up for debate. (Surely some Shakespeare purists were up in arms when this came out!) What cannot be argued, however, is that Branagh's cast is unable to pull this off. They simply are trying to hard at what should come naturally, and the audience can't help but notice. His direction also sinks the film at various points, and as a result, the film jerks from scene to scene, from song to song, ultimately culminating in a collection of bits that never gel into a unified whole.That's not to say that the movie doesn't have its strengths. There is a sense of fun that pervades the film which is quite pleasant. The costumes and art direction are appropriately light and beautiful, and some of the comedy moments are quite fun. Each actor also has his or her strength. Alessandro Nivola (Laurel Canyon, Mansfield Park) is the best singer, Adrian Lester (Primary Colors) the best dancer, Branagh the best actor, and Matthew Lillard (Scooby-Doo) . . . sure is tall. The supporting cast (Nathan Lane, Alicia Silverstone, Emily Mortimer, et. al.) each do their best to rise above the film's shortcomings, as well.Ultimately, the audience ends up really trying to like this movie, but the flaws are too great to dismiss. 6/10 stars.