Shakespeare (Joseph Fiennes) is a writer who has a writers block. He needs a muse. He finds one but is shocked to feel attracted to goatee wearing Viola (Gwyneth Paltrow) who he thinks is a boy (women are not allowed to be actors).

He discovers she is a girl, but then that she is promised to marry Earl Wessex (Colin Firth).

"A cheeky minx of a production. Was Mr Shakespeare really so thin and sexy?"

"A miscellany of Shakespearean witty delights."

"I am sure there are lots of literary jokes in this movie which I missed as I didn't stay awake often in those classes at school. A perfect love story, none the less, and I got some of the jokes too, I think."

"This movie has everything including a dog, a queen and beards."

"Celluloidal perfection."

"A love scene full of passion and lust."

"Judi Dench as Queen Elizabeth I is magnificent."

"Oh, for the betting of £50, back in the days when that was a lot of money. Today that buys you just three hours in a top London Hotel"

Bravisimo, another movie which has set out to demystify the Bard, this time by making him a vulnerable playwright with veritable quill trouble!

It is so tempting to start quoting Shakespeare, but at the risk of getting it wrong, just let me say that I found this movie wonderfully honest to its convictions. A consummate time piece peppered with literary quotes, sautéed in a delightfully passionate lusty sauce and delivered with a wit deserving of the Bard himself.

My dog died from exhaustion while I watched this movie and it was difficult to remember if I cried more for his passing, or this movie.

A great, passionate, lustful, mainstream movie. All the players are perfectly cast and make the most of their roles.