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As You Like It (2007)

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Director Kenneth Branagh tackles the works of William Shakespeare for the fifth time in his career as a filmmaker with this adaptation of one of The Bard's most accessible works. Rosalind is the daughter of a banished duke, and lives among a community of Westerners living in 19th century Japan. When her father, the duke, is suddenly banished, the frightened girl is forced to flee for the Forest of Arden lest she risk being executed by her malevolent uncle. Joining Rosalind on her flight to the

PG, 2 hr. 15 min.

Drama, Romance, Comedy

Sep 25, 2007

Picturehouse

Cast

All Critics (15) | Fresh (5) | Rotten (10) | DVD (1)

Fun retelling, but longer than teens will like it.

December 18, 2010 Full Review Source: Common Sense Media | Comment
Common Sense Media

Branagh's film suffers when that boldness does not go far enough, creating an adaptation that trades depth and cultural exploration for a few quick fireworks; it is not so much Kurosawa's Macbeth as Memoirs of a Geisha.

September 25, 2007 Full Review Source: Slant Magazine | Comment
Slant Magazine

Energetic and entertaining, but it's like a long episode of an over-talky, out-of-control soap opera.

September 21, 2007 Full Review Source: Shadows on the Wall | Comment
Shadows on the Wall

It's not an unsuccessful adaptation. But it rarely catches fire as one of Shakespeare's most popular plays should.

September 21, 2007 Full Review Source: This is London | Comment
This is London

Kenneth Branagh directs this pedestrian spin on the Shakespearean comedy that proves stubbornly resistant to his boisterous brand of all-star panto.

September 21, 2007 Full Review Source: thelondonpaper | Comment
thelondonpaper

Kenneth Branagh gamely continues to put Shakespeare on film, and audiences continue to ignore them.

September 21, 2007 Full Review Source: Independent | Comment
Independent

Kenneth Branagh is in danger of becoming the next Kenneth Branagh, in a career of serial self-replication as our last unstoppable screen Shakespearean.

September 21, 2007 Full Review Source: Financial Times | Comment
Financial Times

Branagh's direction is fluent, surefooted, a little broad sometimes; his ingenious Japanese staging recreates the wrestling match as a wacky sumo contest. It's elegant and Howard is very good.

September 21, 2007 Full Review Source: Guardian [UK] | Comment
Guardian [UK]

Faced with As You Like It, one of the Bard's more tiresome plays, Branagh's direction loses conviction and his storytelling lacks the engaging enthusiasm of his previous Shakespeares.

September 21, 2007 Full Review Source: Times [UK] | Comment
Times [UK]

Smart casting and stand-out performances don't compensate for the twee source play and an over-ambitious screenplay from Branagh.

September 21, 2007 Full Review Source: Film4 | Comment

Unremarkable take on the Bard's cross-dressing comedy, ostentatiously relocated to 19th-century Japan though wholly shot in the Home Counties.

September 21, 2007 Full Review Source: Total Film | Comment
Total Film

With the director setting such a leisurely pace, the seventh step into total inertia takes hold well before the curtain drops.

September 21, 2007 Full Review Source: BBC | Comment

Branagh's fifth foray into celluloid Shakespeare brings us this rather stodgy version of the Bard's wise comedy of old Japan.

September 21, 2007 Full Review Source: Time Out | Comment

While diverting in parts, this struggles to make a convoluted plot engaging. We're still loving Romola Garai and Bryce Dallas Howard, though.

September 21, 2007 Full Review Source: Empire Magazine | Comment
Empire Magazine

[A]nyone who thinks that Shakespeare is a chore to be suffered needs to see how fresh and refreshing and sweet and enlightening and simply pleasant his wicked-sharp words can be...

August 22, 2007 Full Review Source: Flick Filosopher | Comment
Flick Filosopher
More Critic Reviews

Audience Reviews for As You Like It

Here's one that snuck completely under my radar, probably because it was apparently made-for-HBO (which I don't have) and not released theatrically. I like Branagh, and I like Kline, but Bryce Dallas Howard in the lead? I'll pass... right?Well, I gave it a shot. Kenneth Branagh has successfully returned to the

April 23, 2008
shiftyeyeddog

Super Reviewer

"As You Like It" starts with a palace coup resulting in the Duke(Brian Blessed) being deposed by his own brother(Blessed again), along with nearly all of his family. The new duke keeps his niece, Rosalind(Bryce Dallas Howard), around to keep his daughter, Celia(Romola Garai), company. To keep themselves busy, the

May 11, 2008
Harlequin68
Walter M.

Super Reviewer

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