Ben Chaplin, Billy Crudup, Claire Danes
It's the 1660s, and Edward 'Ned' Kynaston is England's most celebrated leading lady. Women are forbidden to appear on stage and Ned profits, using his beauty and skill to make the great female roles h...( read more
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DVD Release Date: March 8, 2005
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Stats: 734 reviews
Flixster Reviews (734)
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September 29, 2009Stage Beauty is another adaptation of a play. Yawn? Well don't, because it also happens to make a highly successful transition from stage to screen thanks to the genius that is director Richard Eyre.
It tells the tale of Ned (Billy Crudup), a young actor who specialises in portr...( read more) -
August 18, 2007This was very clever where women could not be on the stage and how one mans jealousy. Slowly transitions to love and acceptance. A nice period piece with a heartful story.
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March 6, 2007An annoying, pretentious, anemic drama about awkwardly-utilized crossdressing and Claire Danes. These two things spell certain doom for your movie, especially when used in tandem.
Everyone in this movie sounds as if they inhaled helium and put on the most obnoxious accent conce...( read more) -
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April 21, 2007This is one of those movies whose plot is just bizarre enough to make it look interesting. Thankfully, the writing and the cast were up to the task and produced a truly enjoyable film. Good stuff...
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November 2, 2009I wasn't expecting much from this movie. It was surprisingly good. Nothing earth-shattering, but there were some really nice moments and ideas.
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May 5, 2009Colourful, well-cast period piece doesn't completely convince us that its central character and his sexual confusion is all that interesting, but it saved by the incredible performance of Crudup and his chemistry with Danes.
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March 27, 2009I loved the whole blurring of gender lines. It makes me wonder what would it be like to live in such a world. I often think about Aristophanes' speech in Plato's Symposium.
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March 14, 2009Had a little bit of everything. Comedy, Drama, Romance. It may even be better than Shakespeare In Love, but it's hard to beat a love scene that invovles reciting Romeo and Juliet to one another while making love.
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Critic Reviews
May 4, 2005
Nick Schager, Lessons of Darkness
October 22, 2004
Ty Burr, Boston Globe
The result plays like a theater person's idea of serious cinema. full review
October 22, 2004
Liam Lacey, Globe and Mail
Danes, who specializes in sincerity and lacks Crudup's theatrical training, doesn't fare nearly as well. Playing an actress who can't act very well, she seems genuinely lost. full review
October 22, 2004
Roger Ebert, Chicago Sun-Times
It has a poignancy that Shakespeare lacks, because it is about a real dilemma and two people who are trying to solve it; must Ned and Maria betray their real natures in order to find love, or accept t... full review
October 8, 2004
Peter Travers, Rolling Stone
The gender role-playing puts spine in this period piece that is vital to the here and now. full review
October 8, 2004
Stephanie Zacharek, Salon.com
It's deeply perceptive about what good actors do, without resorting to theatrical platitudes. full review
October 7, 2004
A.O. Scott, The New York Times
A 17th century Star is Born, though with interestingly convoluted sexual politics and a provocative historical thesis. full review
October 4, 2004
Marcy Dermansky, About.com
The plot is entirely implausible, the end anachronistic and, even worse, positively offensive. full review
Comments
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October 22, 2006I liked this, as a movie buff I'm glad there are other people that are willing to be in them. And I'm not just saying that because I'd hate to deal with the paparazzo. Acting takes it tole on the good ones (like poor Tom Cruise) when you spend so much time being somone else it's hard to know who you are when the adoration stops. I like Billy Crudup's choices of rolls.
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