Fluentiama Perfect cast and a good story

Blucher One of the worst movies I've ever seen

MamaGravity good back-story, and good acting

Guillelmina The film's masterful storytelling did its job. The message was clear. No need to overdo.

Python Hyena Stage Beauty (2004): Dir: Richard Eyre / Cast: Billy Crudup, Claire Danes, Rupert Everett, Tom Wilkinson, Ben Chaplin: Ravishing look into both the physical and artistic appeal of theatre. In London 1661 Billy Crudup plays a famous stage actor who fills auditoriums with his flawless portrayals of women but his dresser has been secretly performing even though women are forbidden to play female roles. Charles II appeals the ruling and allows women the right to perform thus leaving Crudup's talent to deteriorate as his audience abandons him. Beautifully written period piece directed by Richard Eyre who previously made Iris. Here is yet another great example of his work and it maintains strong focus on theatre. Crudup is fantastic as an actor playing woman so flawlessly that he is unable to portray a male. Claire Danes is flawless as a dresser turn overnight sensation. Excellent supporting work by Rupert Everett gives a superb supporting performance as Charles II who enjoys theatre to the point where adapting can only open opportunity. Tom Wilkinson also appears as the company head. Ben Chaplin plays George Villiers, the second Duke of Buckingham. Exquisite art direction showcases the time period as well as image the theatre and stage business from that time. Film addresses the rise of women through theatre but the real stage beauty is within one's talent. Score: 9 / 10

cardinalcall If you are looking for another movie like "Shakespeare in Love", forget it: it's not here.True, there was a Charles II, Nell Gwynn, and Ned Kynaston; however, the viewer is left with characters who have little, if any, similarity to the historical persons. The Nell Gwynn as depicted in this film would never have been a favorite of the London playhouses nor Charles II. And the Ned Kynaston as he appears in Stage Beauty would have been performing in Bedlam rather than on Vere Street. Ned was not a basket case; rather, an accomplished actor.And Othello was not the subject that enthralled audiences of the Restoration era. Where is Wycherly's "Country Wife", or Etherege's "Love in a Tub"? The Restoration restored fun and sin, not tragedy, the stuff of Puritans and Pilgrims. The film fails to capture the spirit of the era: the joy of life on earth rather than in the after life.This film not only fails in historical accuracy. It also fails in creating believable characters. No, Virginia, gay men cannot be made heterosexual. That is a fantasy of gay men and the women who love them. Bisexual is a term used by those who are in a state of denial. This is the biggest failure of the film: the viewer cannot suspend disbelief.And at times I detected a bit of preachiness about woman's rights, feminism, etc, that I half expected to see Gloria Steinem appear on stage as Iago. Yeah, we know women can act: haven't we all been married and divorced? If you, too, are fed up hearing about gay and woman rights all the time, send your wife to the movie with her girl or gay friend, and stay home. Watching the New York Giants lose is less painful than watching this drivel.Other than perhaps Scotty Bowers, I am really at a loss as to who loved this film. The whole world may be a stage except for this film.Pass on this one unless you, too, are in a state of denial.

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

davidgarnes I watched this movie recently because I like historical dramas, especially those with an English setting. What a surprise to find it so first-rate in every aspect. Why did this film disappear? Why wasn't it nominated for more awards? The plot is fascinating and based on fact (the transition in English theatrical history from men playing women to women playing women); the art direction and costumes wonderful; the cinematography outstanding; and, best of all, the acting superb. The screenplay is also outstanding and takes the film to a deeper level of the examination of identity, gender roles, and relationships between men/women and men/men. Do we act as we are? Are we as we act? Fascinating.Billy Crudup and Claire Danes are a great team, and the scenes between the two of them are compelling and totally engrossing. Richard Griffiths, Tom Wilkinson (what a fine actor he is), Ben Chaplin are all superb, and Rupert Everett cuts quite the over-the-top figure as King Charles. The King Charles spaniels aren't bad, either.Don't miss this superb film.