The Taming of the Shrew

I don't know if anyone else noticed it, but for me it was the music which really turned this adaptation into something special. Well done to Hal Lindes whoever he is for composing the original music, but also to the person who edited it to maximum effect. It made the film so much fun. Of course, the two main actors, Shirley Henderson and Rufus Sewell were excellent too, even though it was difficult to believe that a future PM could behave as badly as she did, or that she could get married and go on honeymoon without the paparazzi swarming all over the place! How nice to see a new single play on TV with no gruesome murders or police in the cast. Bring back Play for Today!

From the very outset, I was "dubled up" with laughter induced only by what I saw and heard from this excellent piece of work. The fact that "venom has no smell" made the complete picture of this all so fantastic. The photography, the cameras use of motion in a single frame was so French................ I LOVED EVERY SINGLE NANo SECOND.. Recommend this Paly for T.V. A Must for everyone who knows the Play, watched the Dramatics, seen it as it was written and how it has been so magnificently transfered to a modern day with so much, Oh So much of the original. Want to see this again and again.......I would never have thought that someone could take the brilliance of Shakespeares Taming Of The Shrew and be able to put this kind of production to the small screen. The character Tomlinson played was just so much of what I viewed as the asides on stage and on screen yet brilliant in every move and word he uttered

I can't help thinking that the reaction I had to this tele-play (hilarity, surprise, horror, disgust, warm & fuzzies) was probably identical to how Shakepeare's original play was received in its day. Firstly, the casting was exquisite - Rufus Sewell was a big surprise to me, but perfectly cast as the boisterous and unpredictable Petruchio; Shirley Henderson spent much of the play enraged, but wonderfully (I'm stealing her word, 'Swivel'!!); and Stephen Tompkinson performed to his usually high standard as the sad manager to Katherine's sister, played by Jaime Murray.

What can I say that hasn't already been said? It was flawless, and like the other episodes of 'Shakespeare Retold', this play captured the feeling, the mood, the bawdiness of the original play, and in turn created an emotional response in the viewer which many stodgy and underdeveloped performances of the stage-play may not be able to reach.

And another thing......... I'd never thought much of Rufus Sewell, but in this he's something of a honey!!!

This is not a very good Shakespeare in my estimation, though everyone looks for different things, probably valuing others. There is no grand struggle here for control over the universe, and of course none of what happens — struggle or no — happens in the language.

But it is a crackling good movie. It has Shirley Henderson in the main role. I've long admired how she grabs the frame. Instead of her being defeated by a barrage of words, completely submerged as the real Kate is, she wins. She wins because everything around her is controlled by her. When the couple is happy, it is because both her character allows his quirks and also because she lets him into the film she commands as an actress. In time, she may become as tiresome as Judi Dench, but for now she is welcome.

This has a terrific score. Someone paid a lot of attention there.

And it does do something Will would: it shamelessly quotes and bends the genre. This is a date movie, plain and simple, under an intelligent commentary on date movies. With the play, the notion of instant, deep love had to be pulled out of exotic myth. We moderns have date movies to convince us what love is, and that it exists in a sparkley form.

Ted's Evaluation -- 3 of 3: Worth watching.

I really loved it. Not always you can find a so entertaining adaptation, specially of a Shakespeare's play and a comedy!. Laugh and a serious interpretation and reflexion about love and marriage without boring the audience is what this film gives you. A smart script, excellent music and good photography, there's no doubt why this film is so loved by so many people. This film has brilliant actors that keep your eyes on the screen with good lines,sarcasm and fantastic performances. Easily recommended, excellent for those who appreciate Shakespeare's plays and intelligent comedies.

Time watching it is time laughing.