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Movies / On DVD / A Midsummer Night's Dream
A Midsummer Night's Dream

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A Midsummer Night's Dream (1999)

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Reviews Counted:74

Fresh:50

Rotten:24

Average Rating:6.3/10

Consensus: Faultless production and shining performances display the Bard's talent propitiously.

Runtime: 2 hrs

Genre: Comedies

Synopsis: Michael Hoffman's film adaptation of Shakespeare's magical comedy of a love-tangled quadrangle shimmers with sumptuous cinematography and a truly stellar cast that includes Kevin Kline, Michelle... Michael Hoffman's film adaptation of Shakespeare's magical comedy of a love-tangled quadrangle shimmers with sumptuous cinematography and a truly stellar cast that includes Kevin Kline, Michelle Pfeiffer, Stanley Tucci, Rupert Everett, Calista Flockhart, and Sam Rockwell. Relocated from Athens to an Italian villa, the film follows the romantic misadventures of four would-be lovers; at the beginning of the film Helena loves Demetrius who loves Hermia who loves Lysander, but all of that undergoes a change when the four young people chase each other into the woods and wander into the domain of Oberon and Titania (King and Queen of the Fairies), and the mischievous magic of Puck who possesses a flower that causes people to fall in love with the first person they encounter. Into the hilarity and confusion stumble a hapless band of laborers rehearsing a play for the Duke's wedding. One of the band, Nick Bottom, a humble weaver, is given the head of donkey and then, through the power of the flower, wins the love of Titania herself. After a dizzying whirl of magic, mayhem, and a million minor follies of the heart, everything is sorted out and everyone finds, at last, their match. [More]

Starring: Kevin Kline, Michelle Pfeiffer, Rupert Everett, Calista Flockhart

Starring: Kevin Kline, Michelle Pfeiffer, Rupert Everett, Calista Flockhart, Stanley Tucci, Anna Friel, Christian Bale, Dominic West, David Strathairn, Sophie Marceau, Roger Rees, Bernard Hill, Bill Irwin, Sam Rockwell, John Sessions, Max Wright, Gregory Jbara

Director: Michael Hoffman

Director: Michael Hoffman
Story: William Shakespeare
Producer: Leslie Urdang
Composer: Simon Boswell

[See More Credits]

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Release:

Aug 5, 2008

[DVD Details]
 
 
  • A stellar cast, headed by Michelle Pfeiffer and Kevin Kline, bring Shakespeare's romantic comedy to life. When two pairs of star-crossed lovers, a feuding pair of supernatural sprites and a love potion gone awry all come together in an enchanted moonlit forest, the result is a delightful mix of merriment and magic. Also starring Calista Flockhart, Stanley Tucci and Rupert Everett.
  • Source: 20th Century Fox Home Entertainment
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    Reviews for A Midsummer Night's Dream

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    1 - 20 (sorted by date)
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    N/R

    Click to read the article

    Full Review Source: Planet Sick-Boy | comment Comment
    10/18/08
    Jon Popick
    Jon Popick
    Planet Sick-Boy

    Click to read the article

    Full Review Source: Sacramento News & Review | comment Comment
    08/07/08
    Jim Lane
    Jim Lane
    Sacramento News & Review

    Your high school English teacher would approve, and parts are terrifically enjoyable.

    Full Review Source: TV Guide's Movie Guide | comment 1 Comment
    07/04/08
    Maitland McDonagh
    Maitland McDonagh
    TV Guide's Movie Guide
    N/R

    A visually delightful but curiously flat adaptation...

    Full Review Source: Channel 4 Film | comment Comment
    07/04/08
    Channel 4 Film

    Bathed in sunshine, stardust and star power, this 'Dream' should be required viewing for anyone who insists Shakespeare is stuffy and dull. ...this is Shakespeare for the masses.

    Full Review Source: Kalamazoo Gazette | comment Comment
    08/05/07
    James Sanford
    James Sanford
    Kalamazoo Gazette

    I remain skeptical about the ability of even the best American actors to read Shakespeare's lines without giving the impression that they are enduring very painful cultural root canal work.

    Full Review Source: New York Observer | comment 1 Comment
    04/27/07
    Andrew Sarris
    Andrew Sarris
    New York Observer
    Top Critic Icon Top Critic

    It has fun and makes you laugh.

    Full Review Source: Combustible Celluloid | comment Comment
    06/03/06
    Jeffrey M. Anderson
    Jeffrey M. Anderson
    Combustible Celluloid

    Injecting the film with fun and pathos, Kline makes a superb Bottom; it's his play and he acts it to the hilt.

    Full Review Source: Time Out | comment Comment
    02/09/06
    Derek Adams
    Derek Adams
    Time Out

    If there is sacrilege afoot, I'm not enough of a scholar to spot it.

    Full Review Source: Houston Chronicle | comment Comment
    07/21/05
    Jeff Millar
    Jeff Millar
    Houston Chronicle
    Top Critic Icon Top Critic

    The execution of the Bard's comic work is less than sparkling.

    Full Review Source: Reeling Reviews | comment Comment
    04/09/05
    Robin Clifford
    Robin Clifford
    Reeling Reviews

    It's a wildly entertaining romp that should delight fans of this year's Oscar-winner Shakespeare in Love.

    Full Review Source: Jam! Movies | comment Comment
    04/07/04
    Louis B. Hobson
    Louis B. Hobson
    Jam! Movies

    As a movie, unfortunately, it doesn't quite jive.

    Full Review Source: Film Blather | comment Comment
    05/22/03
    Eugene Novikov
    Eugene Novikov
    Film Blather

    What joy to hear an entire film audience roar with glee at Moonshine, Lion and Wall.

    Full Review Source: Palo Alto Weekly | comment Comment
    05/20/03
    Jim Shelby
    Jim Shelby
    Palo Alto Weekly

    Michael Hoffman's adaptation of Shakespeare's A Midsummer Night's Dream is a delightful way to spend the summer solstice evening, or any other, for that matter.

    Full Review Source: Film Quips Online | comment Comment
    02/08/03
    John R. McEwen
    John R. McEwen
    Film Quips Online

    The film is never a chore to watch, but others have done better by the Bard.

    Full Review Source: Minneapolis Star Tribune | comment Comment
    11/06/02
    Jeff Strickler
    Jeff Strickler
    Minneapolis Star Tribune
    Top Critic Icon Top Critic

    Unfortunately, despite the wonderful locations, sets, costumes, and strong acting, this adaptation has a strange lack of magic or chemistry between players.

    Full Review Source: CNN.com | comment Comment
    06/23/02
    Paul Clinton (CNN.com)
    Paul Clinton (CNN.com)
    CNN.com
    Top Critic Icon Top Critic

    Hoffman, who did the adaptation himself, cuts and pastes portions of the play into his movie with a clunky hand. And the avalanche of star power nearly sinks the ship.

    Full Review Source: Seattle Post-Intelligencer | comment Comment
    04/03/02
    Paula Nechak
    Paula Nechak
    Seattle Post-Intelligencer
    N/R

    Click to read the article

    Full Review Source: Boston Phoenix | comment Comment
    03/24/02
    Boston Phoenix

    Hoffman charts a middle course, and travels it quite well -- his version is neither as elaborately baroque as Max Reinhardt's 1935 film treatment nor as starkly sexual as Peter Brooks's celebrated 1970 staging.

    Full Review Source: Globe and Mail | comment Comment
    03/19/02
    Rick Groen
    Rick Groen
    Globe and Mail
    Top Critic Icon Top Critic

    Sporting a shamelessly commercial all-star cast and textually shorn to make a comfortable, diverting two-hour flick, it's the lack of intellectual pretensions that finally makes this version so endearing.

    Full Review Source: Sight and Sound | comment Comment
    03/03/02
    Leslie Felperin
    Leslie Felperin
    Sight and Sound
     
     
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