Synopsis
The lovely Hermia is to wed Demetrius, but she truly cares for Lysander. Hermia's friend, Helena, is in love with Demetrius, while other romantic entanglements abound in the woods, with married fairy rulers Titania and Oberon toying with various lovers and each other.
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Cast
- Rupert EverettOberon
- Calista FlockhartHelena
- Kevin KlineNick Bottom
- Michelle PfeifferTitania
- Stanley TucciPuck
- Christian BaleDemetrius
- Sophie MarceauHippolyta
- David StrathairnTheseus
- Anna FrielHermia
- Dominic WestLysander
- 80
The A.V. Club
Hoffman (Soapdish, One Fine Day) leads a first-rate cast in an intelligent, fully realized adaptation of Shakespeare's most popular comedy that's at once highly cinematic and true to its source. - 80
Dallas Observer
One of the best of the many delights of director Michael Hoffman's new film -- is that he manages to have it both ways -- the gauzy fantasy and the bacchanal. - 75
Chicago Tribune
Most of the original play's magical speeches are preserved here, and however far this film may seem to stray from the original text, the delights remain. [14 May 1999, Friday, p.A] - 70
Slate
Hoffman has wedged the play into a weirdly inapposite setting, has stupidly cut and even more stupidly embellished it, and has miscast it almost to a player. And yet the damn thing works: Shakespeare staggers through, mutilated but triumphant. - 63
USA Today
The major flaw, the clash of acting styles, is at least fascinating to observe. [14 May 1999, Life, p.8E] - 60
Variety
Whimsical, intermittently enjoyable but decidedly unmagical. - 58
Entertainment Weekly
Kline turns in a bravura performance -- he's one of the few in this star-packed cast who actually knows what to do with Shakespeare's poetry. - 50
Seattle Post-Intelligencer
Shakespeare's comical, all-too-human tale of lust, foreplay and wordplay is buried beneath bad taste.