The Greatest Trick

I MUST write something on my own blog! Terrible, I know, but I don’t think I’ve reviewed a movie since about September last year (hmm, just when I started Bible College, funny that). So I think I’ll make it fairly succinct, so I don’t stress over the whole affair.

Ken Branagh and Shakespeare - they’re a bit like bangers and mash. Rum and Coke. Fish and chips. I could go on, but you get the idea. His Hamlet is superb, his Much Ado very good, his Henry V, er, haven’t seen it. Probably very worthy. Anyway, this one is a bit odd. A 1930s version of the story (which I don’t know outside of this film, I must confess), interspersed with songs from the likes of Cole Porter, Jerome Kern and Irving Berlin, some of which work brilliantly and some feel like entering a whole other film. Anyway, to the story.

The King of Navarre (Alessandro Nivola) and his three best friends swear off women for three years to devote themselves to study, but the unexpected visit of the Princess of France (Alicia Silverstone, who really doesn’t seem to understand what she’s saying half the time) and her three handmaidens (oh, look at that, just the right numbers, how lucky Mr Shakespeare) forces them to break their vows. There are tricks with masks, there are mis-managed messages, there is a very silly character in the style of Malvolio from Twelfth Night, there is a court jester, etc etc. As far as I know it’s one of Bill’s weakest and least-known comedies, and our Ken kind of lives up to that. There are some fun musical numbers, and Ken himself totally convinces in terms of his delivery as Berowne, the last of the friends to admit he’s in love. But overall it’s very throwaway, and feels a bit of a mess at the beginning and the end.

Also, for a U, there is one dance number that is just a bit too suggestive for my liking.