Tim Roth and Gary Oldman are an amazing comedic duo. The writing for the play and the film feels like it was written for these two actors. Tom Stoppard, the writer of Shakespeare in Love, directed and wrote this film based on the play that he wrote, perfectly mixed Shakespeare's lines with his own. Their timing is perfect, the situations that they are placed in (the scenes from Hamlet that their scenes are mixed with) seems almost too perfect.
Other than how perfect everything is, there is not much to say. Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are Dead is about the two smaller roles in Hamlet and their story surrounding the events before and during the play. The only other character that appears dominantly is The Player, the actor that performs a play for Elsinore Castle for Hamlet to provoke a reaction from Claudius. Richard Dreyfuss plays The Player. A wonderful performance as well, Dreyfuss chews the scenery like it is an all-you-can-eat buffet.
Some of the things Gary Oldman does is funnier than most comedies made today. A description of these certain scenes and things that he does doesn’t seem quite so funny, but as it plays out, it is. One scene, Tim Roth is trying to listen in on Hamlet and Ophelia while behind him, Oldman is making paper airplanes and tossing them. The airplanes then fly right behind Hamlet and Ophelia while they are doing their dramatic scene. Another, Roth is trying to listen to Hamlet again while Oldman sees a line of pots tied to a laundry pole and tries to make them work as one of the gravity metal balls that one would see at a science exhibit. And together, both Roth and Oldman do a great scene of Questions as a tennis match.
I can’t say much more about the film other than this, but it is a really great movie. It is a little long, some scenes could have been cut down a little, but other than that, not many other problems. This film is meant for every type of person who likes comedies as will Shakespeare fans. It is plain enjoyments where anyone can enjoy it.
*****
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