Shakespeare in Love

Dir: John Madden, 1998 (10*)
Best Picture (AA, BAA, GG)

Let's film a comedy about an unknown, down and out playwright named Will Shakespeare, who's been contracted to write an adventure called "Romeo and Ethel the Sea Pirate's Daughter"! Studios and audiences would scoff and nobody would even come, right? Well, this terrific romantic comedy is one of the few comedies to win Best Picture, and is a rousing and entertaining success on every level, thanks to the cast and the writing. Joseph Fiennes plays Will, Gwyneth Paltrow won a Oscar as a noblewoman who so desires to act that she has to disguise herself as a boy as women aren't yet allowed onstage, Dame Judi Dench won an Oscar for Supp. Actress as Queen Elizabeth, and Geoffrey Rush is hilarious as the broke but driven theater owner. Topping Saving Pvt Ryan for most: 7 Oscars for 13 nominations