Michael Hoffman	...	(Director)
William Shakespeare, Michael Hoffman	...	(Writer)
Kevin Kline	...	Nick Bottom
Michelle Pfeiffer	...	Titania
Stanley Tucci	...	Puck (Robin Goodfellow)
Rupert Everett	...	Oberon
Calista Flockhart	...	Helena
Dominic West	...	Lysander
Christian Bale	...	Demetrius
Anna Friel	...	Hermia
David Strathairn	...	Theseus
Sophie Marceau	...	Hippolyta
Roger Rees	...	Peter Quince
Sam Rockwell	...	Francis Flute
Gregory Jbara	...	Snug
Bill Irwin	...	Tom Snout
Max Wright	...	Robin Starveling

Comments: Love makes fools of us all.

Summary: Imagine a work by Shakespeare reduced to one of those pretty, glossy coffee-table picture books that have only a dollop of text alongside its sumptuous photographs, and you might have Michael Hoffman's adaptation of "A Midsummer Night's Dream". This all-star version of Shakespeare's comedy is gorgeously shot in Tuscany, complete with a magical forest, breathtaking landscapes, beautiful villas, picturesque villages, stunning period costumes--oh wait, there's supposed to be a "story" here, too! Hoffman hijacks Shakespeare's basic premise but doesn't instill it with much more than surface shine and transplants it to turn-of-the-century Italy. Ergo, it's left up to the actors to find the heart and soul of this classic play, in which the fairies of the forest play mix and match with four young lovers, courtesy of a magical love potion. Hoffman couldn't ask for better (or better looking) actors to play Shakespeare's dreamlike love games--Michelle Pfeiffer, Rupert Everett, Calista Flockhart, Christian Bale, Stanley Tucci, Kevin Kline, Anna Friel, Dominic West, the list goes on and on--but he sure as heck doesn't know what to do with them, aside from putting them in various states of undress. Only Flockhart (as the lovestruck Helena), Tucci (a sprightly Puck), Pfeiffer (dazzling and funny as the queen of the fairies), and especially the sublime Kline (as weaver-turned-donkey Bottom) seem to connect with their characters in ways that make this adaptation occasionally soar; the rest are inexplicably left to flounder. Hoffman does seem to set himself right with the film's climax, when Bottom's amateur acting troupe hilariously enacts the tale of Pyramus and Thisbe (it helps that the troupe includes Roger Rees, Sam Rockwell, and Bill Irwin). Those searching for a more in-depth exploration of Shakespeare's farce might do better to look elsewhere, but if it's gorgeous actors and scenery you're in the mood for (along with an evocative opera soundtrack), and an all's-well-that-ends-well ending, this "Midsummer Night" will give you pleasant if weightless dreams. "--Mark Englehart"