Stars: Michelle Pfeiffer, Anna Friel, Kevin Kline, Rupert Everett, Calista Flockhart, Stanley Tucci, Christian Bale, Dominic West, Sam Rockwell, David Strathairn, Sophie Marceau

Director: Michael Hoffman

Summary: An adaptation of William Shakespeare's most loved romantic comedy.

Michael Hoffman's film adaptation of Shakespeare's magical romantic comedy features an all-star cast that includes Michelle Pfeiffer, Rupert Everett, Kevin Kline, Stanley Tucci, Calista Flockhart, Christian Bale, Anna Friel, and many others. Peasants, posh lovers, and faeries all collide in an enchanted forest, leading to mishaps and misadventure.

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By far the best thing about director Michael Hoffman's A Midsummer Night's Dreamis the extraordinary all-star cast, which follows the precedent created by Kenneth Branagh's Italian-set romantic Shakespeare comedy, Much Ado About Nothing(1993), of mixing major Hollywood stars--here Kevin Kline and Michelle Pfeiffer--with top British talent, in this instance Christian Bale, Rupert Everett, Roger Rees, David Strathairn and Dominic West. Kline makes a fine Nick Bottom, with Pfeiffer equally good as the fairy queen Titania and Everett brooding effectively as Oberon. Unfortunately, while both look ravishing, it is hard to tell which actress between Anna Friel (Brookside) and Calista Flockhart (Ally McBeal) gives the most wretched performance. Both are completely out of their depth the moment they begin to speak, and utterly outclassed by the excellent Sophie Marceau.

Shot in Tuscany and set in the 19th century, parts of the film are extraordinarily beautiful, while other sections could have benefited from some judicious special effects magic. This is not a bad movie, but it is rather uninspired, lacking any real imaginative grasp of the play. In contrast, the much less well known and lower budget Royal Shakespeare Company version of 1996 positively revels in the fantastically surreal possibilities this timeless text. --Gary S Dalkin

Aspect Ratio:	2.35 Wide Screen, 16:9 Wide Screen
Main Language:	English
Region:	Region 2
Subtitles:	Dutch, French, German, Spanish
Year:	1999
Release Date:	September 9, 2002
Runtime:	115 minutes
Certification:
Catalogue Number:	14252 D V D
Keywords:	Dream, Classic, Book, Comedy, General, Wide, Screen, Midsummer, Romantic, Drama, William, Based, Night's, Shakespeare's
Genre:	Drama