Anonymous 2011

Mary F. Pols, TIME Magazine: Oliver Stone's JFK looks reasonable compared to this. Read more

Amy Biancolli, Houston Chronicle: The digitally wrought period settings are simply gorgeous. Read more

Christy Lemire, Associated Press: As the initial whiff of scandal eventually gives way to great, repetitive blubbering about the brilliance and significance of Shakespeare's works, "Anonymous" ultimately feels like much ado about nothing. Read more

Moira MacDonald, Seattle Times: Much ado about nothing, indeed. Read more

Glenn Kenny, MSN Movies: Even though Emmerich is working with ostensibly more refined material here, the ham-handed touch of the man who gave us The Day After Tomorrow... is felt quite heavily throughout. Read more

A.O. Scott, New York Times: A vulgar prank on the English literary tradition, a travesty of British history and a brutal insult to the human imagination. Apart from that, it's not bad. Read more

Keith Uhlich, Time Out: Other than ludicrously pulpy fun, Anonymous, true to its title, ultimately signifies nothing. Read more

David Edelstein, New York Magazine/Vulture: A well-polished cowpat that will confuse and bore those who know nothing about Shakespeare and incense those who know almost anything. Read more

Joe Morgenstern, Wall Street Journal: In a movie that rings false at every turn, Ms. Redgrave's Elizabeth is truly and infallibly regal. Read more

Keith Phipps, AV Club: It's as dull as it is brainless, the work of creators who've spent far more time concocting silly stories about Shakespeare than learning from him. Read more

Bill Goodykoontz, Arizona Republic: Historians will quibble with the timing and accuracy of a lot of the film, and you know what? Let them. The rest of us can enjoy the performances and the sumptuous look of the movie, which is a lot more satisfying, anyway. Read more

Wesley Morris, Boston Globe: Roland Emmerich destroys things for a living. Why not the reputation of a man who lacked the imagination to blow up the Sistine Chapel? Read more

Amy Nicholson, Boxoffice Magazine: Why is Emmerich, destroyer of worlds, elbowing his way into the conversation about Shakespearean authorship? Because the debate is explosive -- and he can't resist packing on more dynamite Read more

Ben Sachs, Chicago Reader: This is irresistible as self-knowing camp: the players ham it up in high fashion and the script crams at least one lurid revelation into every scene. Read more

Michael Phillips, Chicago Tribune: "Anonymous" is ridiculous, and like Oliver Stone's "JFK" it sells its political conspiracy theories by weight and by volume. But dull, it's not. Read more

Peter Rainer, Christian Science Monitor: John Orloff's screenplay could have used a rewrite by de Vere -- or whomever. Read more

Chris Vognar, Dallas Morning News: The very qualities that fuel the historical hokum of Anonymous -- over-the-top royal intrigue and incest, violent literary backstabbing, frothing conspiracy -- also happen to make for wild entertainment. Read more

Lisa Kennedy, Denver Post: Audiences may chuckle. Stratfordians, prepare for conniptions. Read more

Tom Long, Detroit News: Anonymous may not convince anyone, but it certainly should entertain them. Read more

Lisa Schwarzbaum, Entertainment Weekly: Scholarly debate about the Shakespeare Authorship Question has little to do with this tale told by an idio...syncratic moviemaker up to little more than mischief. Read more

Kirk Honeycutt, Hollywood Reporter: Surprisingly, this is easily director Roland Emmerich's best film. Read more

Betsy Sharkey, Los Angeles Times: It's Shakespeare as B-movie, if you will, or to borrow from the bard, a boffo blast, which I'm pretty sure is from either "King Lear" or "Hamlet." Read more

Charlie McCollum, San Jose Mercury News: If you are looking for something more intellectual, and certainly more accurate in its portrayal of a rich period in English history, you will have to go elsewhere. Read more

Connie Ogle, Miami Herald: Anonymous, far from ascending the brightest heaven of invention, is a muddled, often confusing film, unable to mesh its political and theatrical plotlines. Worse, it undermines its own argument by cramming in too many fanciful possibilities. Read more

David Denby, New Yorker: The more far-fetched the idea, it seems, the more strenuous the effort to pass it off as authentic. Read more

Stephen Whitty, Newark Star-Ledger: Like vermin, facts here are banished / Logic dispelled, plain motives all vanished ... Read more

Bob Mondello, NPR: As silly as most of this is, Anonymous is undeniably a handsome picture. The costumes are gorgeous, with enough velvet and brocade to make everybody seem downright upholstered. Read more

Elizabeth Weitzman, New York Daily News: Though the cast is energetic and the intrigues diverting, you'll have to distance yourself from reality to enjoy so much outlandish scheming. Read more

Lou Lumenick, New York Post: "Anonymous'' is a thoroughly entertaining load of eye candy with solid performances, even if John Orloff's exposition-heavy script practically requires a concordance to follow at times. Read more

Rex Reed, New York Observer: Historians are already calling Anonymous preposterous humbug, but I found it a complex cornucopia of ideas and panache. You go away sated. Read more

Carrie Rickey, Philadelphia Inquirer: Anonymous is no more or less far-fetched than Emmerich's prior efforts. But it is much, much more confusing. Read more

James Berardinelli, ReelViews: File this one in the category of entertaining historical fiction. There are facts here, but one must possess more than a passing familiarity with history to be able to spot them. Read more

Roger Ebert, Chicago Sun-Times: A splendid experience: the dialogue, the acting, the depiction of London, the lust, jealousy and intrigue. Read more

Peter Travers, Rolling Stone: As the Bard probably would not say, Anonymous is some crazy shit. Read more

Laura Miller, Salon.com: By attempting to weave the fancies of the Oxfordians into a coherent narrative, Anonymous does highlight the over-the-top melodrama inherent in anti-Stratfordianism itself. Read more

Dana Stevens, Slate: What's disappointing about Anonymous is that it isn't dumb enough. Rather than plunging merrily ahead with its fanciful counternarrative, the movie keeps stopping to actually, seriously make its case -- to posit and explain and persuade. Read more

Colin Covert, Minneapolis Star Tribune: So disappointingly dopey that it's unworthy of anyone's time. Read more

Judith Newmark, St. Louis Post-Dispatch: Will Shakespeare, whose words shine on, bright and brave, Is turning o'er with laughter in his grave. Read more

Christopher Orr, The Atlantic: Take the political intrigue of Elizabeth, add the backstage drama of Shakespeare in Love, and divide by the adherence to fact and logic that propelled 2012 and The Day After Tomorrow. Read more

Liam Lacey, Globe and Mail: Apart from these few light moments, Anonymous is a case of ingenuity wasted on an unintelligent enterprise. Read more

Alonso Duralde, TheWrap: Knowing that non-Masterpiece Theater audiences will grow fidgety over this sort of thing, Emmerich and Orloff throw in plenty of sword-fighting, bear-baiting, and bodice-ripping. Read more

Tom Huddleston, Time Out: Think of it as a high-end Christmas panto, as a red-faced, enthusiastic cast are put through the paces by their barking, domineering director. Louder, faster, bigger, more! Read more

Peter Howell, Toronto Star: Anonymous is so dubious in its intent and so tangled in its execution, it might have worked better as a comedy like Notting Hill or The Boat That Rocked, where Ifans could agreeably play the fool as before. Read more

Claudia Puig, USA Today: Dubious history aside, Anonymous is a well-acted yarn that also is a tribute to the unstoppable force of art -- even if it implies that only an aristocrat could create it. Read more

Robert Koehler, Variety: A handsomely staged and decidedly straight-ahead costume drama under Roland Emmerich's nearly CGI-free direction. Read more

Nick Pinkerton, Village Voice: This is high camp, nothing more. Read more

Ann Hornaday, Washington Post: Don't let the frilly costumes, courtly language and historical pretense fool you: "Anonymous" is still a Roland Emmerich movie - a blessing when it comes to vigor and a curse when it comes to subtlety, proportion or sense. Read more