Stevecorp Don't listen to the negative reviews

Organnall Too much about the plot just didn't add up, the writing was bad, some of the scenes were cringey and awkward,

Celia A great movie, one of the best of this year. There was a bit of confusion at one point in the plot, but nothing serious.

Scarlet The film never slows down or bores, plunging from one harrowing sequence to the next.

BatTea Though colorful in a superficial sort of way, this was otherwise a silly movie, which took a subject that might have been used intelligently and trivialized it with, among other things, horrible and distracting music that bore little or no relation to the action, a contrived love-story between the two characters (Danes was unconvincing in all respects, and Crudup was unconvincing as a female-role actor, and, as one reviewer pointed out, he was more "feminine" when he wasn't trying to play a woman), and a drawn-out exposition of thin material. It is possible that it was not intended to be historically accurate, and, if so, it succeeded in that. Trite and predictable, right down to its gag-worthy ending.

gradyharp Perhaps thought patterns are changing and prejudices against gay characters are indeed abating. At least hearing the audience delight after viewing STAGE BEAUTY makes a case for more mainstream male actors to shed the fear of taking on roles that feature gender and sexuality variations: Russell Crowe, Colin Farrell, Tom Hanks, Matt Damon, Antonio Banderas, Javier Bardem, Rodrigo Santoro, Gael Garcia Bernal, et al have all performed sensitively as gay men despite their macho image - the once small list is now respectably large. And now add Billy Crudup and Ben Chaplin to that ever-growing list. Bravo to that change.STAGE BEAUTY (in the screenplay version of his own play 'The Compleat Female Stage Beauty' by Jeffrey Hatcher) is set in the mid 17th century with all the frills and foibles of British dandies and ladies visually intact. This is the time when female roles were assumed by male actors (the theater was simply no place for ladies to participate) and we are introduced to Mr. Kynaston (in a brilliant, multifaceted performance by Billy Crudup!) as he portrays Desdemona in Shakespeare's 'Othello'. He is attended by a dresser Maria Hughes (Claire Danes, another superlative acting achievement) who longs to act and steals away after performances in the theater run by actor Betterton (Tom Wilkinson) to a tavern where she assumes the memorized roles Kynaston performs on the royally approved stage.Kynaston has been raised to portray women on stage (and indeed in life) and responds to men as a woman (his lover is the Duke of Buckingham - Ben Chaplin). King Charles II (a thorough-going hilarious fling for the gifted Rupert Everett) is convinced by his tart du jour to allow women to play women's roles on the stage, thus dethroning Kynaston as the actress of the time, driving him into tawdry masquerades in pubs after a severe beating from thugs beckoned by the bloated Sir Charles Sedley (Richard Griffiths). Maria Hughes thus becomes the first 'compleat female actress' and this transition between Kynaston and Maria results in desperate tutoring lessons before Maria can play Desdemona for the King. For the first time in his life Kynaston must examine his own sexuality and his successful final curtain after playing Othello to Maria's Desdemona gratefully leaves that choice up in the air.The script is a delight, the actors are all first rate, especially the wholly immersed Crudup and Danes who could well be part of the Royal Shakespeare Company, so fine is their British sound, demeanor, and Shakespeare! The supporting cast is a kaleidoscope of jewel-like performances from Everett, Wilkinson, Edward Fox, Hugh Bonneville among others. The mood is appropriately British - all dark, candlelit stagecraft and foggy marsh vistas - and the music matches the overall picture. Richard Eyre has directed a film that deserves many kudos, but the main glory should shine on his ability to explore the spectrum of gender and sexuality with dignity, intelligence, and tremendous sensitivity. A welcome delight! Grady Harp

Andreapworth I just chanced on a good review of this film and saw it my self yesterday.Wonderful and historically accurate.Billy Crudup was the biggest revelation. Sure, I knew he was a solid actor but this part really impressed me. And I have acted in Shakespearean plays, myself, and was blown away by his performance. And all the gender/confusions of the time. so well performed by the entire cast.Claire Danes was a terrific surprise. Possibly the best role I have ever seen her do. And the rest of the cast, from Rupert Neville, Tom Wilkinson, and Ben Chaplin, etc. were all spot-on.All the reviews here are excellent, so what are you waiting for? See this great 'small' movie and learn a lot about theater history. And history, in general, for that matter! Kudos to the entire cast and director!

Neil Welch I quite enjoyed this, but I'm not wholly sure why.The story was a little muddled in places, at least in terms of consistency, motivation and the like. But the performances were mostly pleasing, not least Billy Crudup who came over as very engaging despite playing a character whose behaviour was at times gratuitously unpleasant.Rupert Everett was a hoot.I have a problem with Claire Danes. I like her, but I'm not convinced she's actually all that good an actress. This feeling seems to be driven by one of her facial expressions which gets massively overused (it shows up here, and also in Stardust and Little Women - I've seen all three films fairly recently), and it's the expression where she looks as if someone has just delivered themselves of the most offensively malodorous flatulence directly under her nose. I'm sure you know the one I mean - if you've seen any of those films, then you're bound to know. And it's an all purpose expression for anything bad, from mild worry to just survived a murder attempt. On the other hand, she does a creditable English accent (as does Crudup in this film).Oh, and I suspect that in Restoration England, it was most unlikely that anyone would say, "Get the f*** off my stage" notwithstanding the provenance of f*** as good old-fashioned Anglo-Saxon of the first order. An unwelcome anachronistic Americanism, as out of place as mammoths in Egypt.Whoops, I'm getting ahead of myself.....