Love's Labour's Lost (2000)

48% of critics liked it
(62 reviews)
45% of users liked it
(3,558 ratings)

Actor/director Kenneth Branagh sets his screen version of Shakespeare's play in the 1930s, adding such classic songs as "They Can't Take That Away From Me," "The Way You Look Tonight," and "Let's Face the Music and Dance," and staging it in the manner of a Fred Astaire-Ginger Rogers musical. The… More Actor/director Kenneth Branagh sets his screen version of Shakespeare's play in the 1930s, adding such classic songs as "They Can't Take That Away From Me," "The Way You Look Tonight," and "Let's Face the Music and Dance," and staging it in the manner of a Fred Astaire-Ginger Rogers musical. The King of Navarre (Allesandro Nivola) and three of his noblemen (Branagh, Matthew Lillard, and Adrien Lester) have decided that they're wasting their time chasing women. They swear a solemn oath to spend the next three years avoiding the pitfalls of romance and improving their minds. No sooner have they made this agreement than they meet a French princess (Alicia Silverstone) and her three handmaidens (Natascha McElhone, Carmen Ejogo, and Emily Mortimer). The pledge is forgotten and the chase is on. Love's Labour's Lost also features Nathan Lane, Timothy Spall, and Paul Whitehouse. ~ Mark Deming, Rovi

Rating, Runtime: PG, 1 hr. 33 min.
Directed By: Kenneth Branagh
Written By: Kenneth Branagh
Genres: Drama, Romance, Musical & Performing Arts, Comedy

In Theaters: Jun 9, 2000 Wide
On DVD: Dec 19, 2000
Studio: Miramax Films

Critic Reviews

Derek Elley, Variety
A luscious labor of love.
David Germain, Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Maybe Kenneth Branagh should have left the Hollywood musical where he found it, back in the 1930s.
Robert Horton, Film.com
Everybody in Love's Labour's Lost tries so hard to please, they frequently lose track of the matter at hand, to say nothing of the dialogue.
Peter Rainer, New York Magazine
The froth quickly curdles.
Lisa Schwarzbaum, Entertainment Weekly
Each player ends up performing in a different play.
Jay Carr, Boston Globe
It's so eager to please, so caught up in its own sunny energies, so seductive to look at, that what might be your resistance never gets off the ground -- or wants to.
Ellen MacKay, Common Sense Media
A noble experiment that didn't quite work out.
, Film4
We all know who's going to pair off with whom in the end, but Branagh does get us there in some considerable style.
Prairie Miller, filmgazette.com
If you suspend disbelief and just go with the weirded out flow of things, it's a bit like, well, Shakespeare on acid.
Geoff Andrew, Time Out
An act of double homage to antique artifice.
Chris Gore, Film Threat
Alicia Silverstone was better as Batgirl than in this piece of garbage. I don't think she even understood what she was saying.
Robin Clifford, Reeling Reviews
Branagh takes one of Shakespeare's lesser-known plays and puts his own imaginative spin on the subject.
Jeffrey Westhoff, Northwest Herald (Crystal Lake, IL)
Devices meant to keep Shakespeare user-friendly instead reduce the story to a jumble.
Joe Mader, Palo Alto Weekly
Casting Silverstone as the princess gives final proof of Branagh's temporary (one hopes) insanity.
Nick Davis, Nick's Flick Picks
Love's Labour's Lost wasn't lost on me at all; if I could float into the air, singing 'Cheek to Cheek' with total, unabashed sincerity, I probably would.
Jeffrey M. Anderson, Combustible Celluloid
It's a delightful blend of past styles and songs that adds a much-needed zest to a dry and dreary movie season.
William Arnold, Seattle Post-Intelligencer
It's never hugely engaging and it's instantly forgettable, but it has a certain goofy charm...
Frederic and Mary Ann Brussat, Spirituality and Practice
A delightful romantic comedy with musical numbers by Cole Porter, Irving Berlin and George Gershwin.

Read all 18 critic reviews

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Featured Audience Ratings

moon r

Branagh's idea is to conjoin Shakespearean comedy with 1930's era Hollywood musicals ... what could go wrong? At first I felt as if I were having a tooth pulled, without novacaine. The performances? I remembered the Freudian nightmare of appearing in public naked and… More
Branagh's idea is to conjoin Shakespearean comedy with 1930's era Hollywood musicals ... what could go wrong? At first I felt as if I were having a tooth pulled, without novacaine. The performances? I remembered the Freudian nightmare of appearing in public naked and finally concluded the cast was far, far braver than I. By the finale it didn't hurt as bad ... but no one will be pleased with this. Only Nathan Lane manages to escape completely unscathed.
Jens S

One of the kind of films that you wished you could love more than you actually do. Because they don't really do anything wrong. They take Shakespeare's play and put it into the 1930s musical era, with all the singing, dancing and water ballet that comes with it. The songs… More
One of the kind of films that you wished you could love more than you actually do. Because they don't really do anything wrong. They take Shakespeare's play and put it into the 1930s musical era, with all the singing, dancing and water ballet that comes with it. The songs are more or less familiar, some performances really fun and good, others somewhat boring. The cast is great, only Matthew Lillard feels like the odd man out, the set pieces and design rather lovely. It's hard to say why the film didn't work for me anyway. Sometimes it was hard to keep track why things were happening the way they turned out, and I usually didn't have a problem with Shakespeare's language. I felt a bit let down after all, only the ending was rather sweet. I suppose it's one for Musical or Shakespeare fanatics, everyone else feel free to skip. Sadly.
Lanning :

Okay, so this Branagh go at Shakespeare may leave out a lot of the Bard's words, but the spirit is definitely there. Strictly speaking, in the classic sense, comedy does not necessarily equal ha-ha funny. To put it in truly simplistic terms, comedy has only to follow a certain… More
Okay, so this Branagh go at Shakespeare may leave out a lot of the Bard's words, but the spirit is definitely there. Strictly speaking, in the classic sense, comedy does not necessarily equal ha-ha funny. To put it in truly simplistic terms, comedy has only to follow a certain path. With tragedy in the classic sense, there is the trajectory of rise and fall, whereas with comedy, there is fall and rise -- with or without yucks. <p>One need only compare Branagh's attempt with that of the BBC's complete dramatic works of Shakespeare attempt, to see that Branagh has infused the play with the proper spirit, the lively humor it should have. The BBC attempt is so droningly unpleasant -- although much truer to the text -- that it feels in the aftermath like a disheartening tragedy. <p>As I've said before, I hope Branagh does all of Shakespeare's plays before he blows out the candle. Every one of his productions breathes vibrant bright life into the plays, closer to the text or not. I think if Shakespeare saw this adaptation, he'd love it.
Alice S

So bad, it's almost good...but then I regain consciousness and have to put on <i>Singin' in the Rain</i> to get that murky taste out of my brain.
Mason W

Love's Labour's Lost, is a good musical directed by Kenneth Branagh. A light haerted musical that takes place in the 1930's where things are care free. A few men become attreacted to a few dames and it continues with many nice dance numbers.
Leo L

This is an interesting film in the Shakespeare Company collection. Love the music. Love the noir-esque!