This was good fun, from the purposely overacted minor parts to the constantly switched-up impersonations of the main characters. Even Bimba, the pig, gets to cause a few chuckles. And I very much enjoyed the “escape” at the end. Nice closure. If you liked Shakespeare in Love, by all means see this. I don’t think Venice has looked this good since Amadeus, and the 18th century costumery goes great on the frames of Heath Ledger, Sienna Miller, Jeremy Irons and Lena Olin.

I fell asleep. oh, I gave it a good shot and normally I like Heath Ledger but I just thought the whole thing dragged.

Really, I thought this was awful.

Now, it wasn’t my pick exactly – my roomie left a couple of DVDs outside my door and I noticed Jeremy Irons was in it, so I thought I’d give it a try. I almost gave up, but I had this sick fascination with it – could it really get any worse? And imagine, my first exposure to Heath Ledger was Brokeback Mountain, such a great performance (where his monotome muttering actually works). This was embarassing, but ya gotta start somewhere, right?

Anyway, if the idea of this film appeals to you, I recommend “Dangerous Beauty” (a little more serious) or “The Three Musketeers” (the 70s version, with Raquel Welch, Faye Dunaway, Richard Chamberlain, Charleton Heston and Michael York – truly a delightful romp).