Review of Stage Beauty (2004) by Barnaby E — 20 Jun 2010

With everyone saying this is a sub-par 'Shakespeare In Love', there is more at work here than first meets the eye (and ear). This is a stange movie; seriously comic, shall we say? Billy Crudrup as the main lead (the much-lauded Kynaston - who is the cream of the crop of male actors playing femaies in English Restoration London - whose story we follow in true tragedy), with his preening ego and fall from grace, is an odd choice, if I'm honest, for the lead, as he just doesn't convince as a female as he's supposed to.

Claire Danes, as first his 'dresser' and then his successor, is never very likeable in any of her film roles (after the brilliant 'My So-Called Life' on TV), which creates an odd distance with a character you're supposed to empathise with.

However, the supporting cast are excellent, with Ben Chaplin suitably louche and fickle as an in-the-closet Lord, Hugh Bonneville playing less of the bumbling idiot and more of the enthusiastic toff as Samuel Pepys of the Diaries fame, Tom Wilkinson (who gets the best lines or, possibly, who just has the best comic timing) as the owner of the theatre and it's troupe of players is brilliantly sarcastic, and Rupert Everett riffs on his role as the Prince Regent from 'The Madness Of King George' by playing the same posh, likeable, airhead-eccentric in his role as King Charles II, and rounding out the cast (no pun intended) is Richard Griffiths as the villain and theatrical patron of the piece, reprising his role as Uncle Monty from 'Withnail & I' in all but costume! The art direction, set dressing and the locations themselves are brilliantly realised and beautifully done, as are the costumes and the direction.

It's just that the film veers between serious and comic and never sets out to be one or the other, or has enough of either to make it an even ride. An interesting period piece, based on real entries from Samuel Pepys diaries, which never quites lives up to the potential.