This is a surprisingly cinematic accomplishment considering it's essentially an adaption of a play. The performances by Gary Oldman (as Rosencranz
. Or is is Guildenstern? We're never quite sure) and Tim Roth (ibid) are excellent, and Richard Dreyfuss returns to form to some extent in a really hammy role as a theater impresario whose troupe is used by Hamlet to embarrass the King of Denmark. It's basically an attempt to turn "Hamlet" from a tragedy to a comedy, which isn't really as hard as it might sound because Shakespeare's particular brand of melodrama is compatible with both comedy and tragedy and he often mixed the two (for example Malvolia is a tragic character in "Twlefth Night" and the court jester is a comedic figure in "King Lear", although in both cases there is a duality in function at work).
By shifting the focus to R&G the playwright Stoppard engages us in a series of existential questions. We have two decidedly minor players who have a part in the larger tragedy of Hamlet's life and death. The characters in this version are seemingly born at the beginning of the play they must discover why they have been called to Denmark, and can't even remember how their day started much less the fact that they were childhood friends with Hamlet. They also are unaware of which of them is which just as most audiences probably would be, since these are "minor characters". Stoppard's comedy hinges around the concept of analogizing minor characters to minor human beings, or in other words of a character's self-awareness with his sense of purpose. Each character has a purpose to fulfill in the play, which is analogous to his purpose in life or the "meaning of life" in existential terms.
I wouldn't presume to analyze all the ins and outs of this dynamic because I've only just seen this film for the first time. I didn't laugh all that much at parts that seemed designed to be funny, so maybe this film just isn't my cup o' tea. It definitely wasn't as funny nor as philosophically interesting as most of the actual Shakespeare comedies I've seen, and the post-modern emphasis on self-consciousness doesn't really work in the story's favor or make the characters more appealing to me. Probably the one thing that will stick with me the most was the way Oldman's character kept discovering major physical principals but Roth's character would just miss seeing it. I felt at times that I was being hit over the head with the wit of this film: "WIT! WIT! WIT!". I like an intelligent comedy but this one just didn't appeal to me for whatever reason.
By shifting the focus to R&G the playwright Stoppard engages us in a series of existential questions. We have two decidedly minor players who have a part in the larger tragedy of Hamlet's life and death. The characters in this version are seemingly born at the beginning of the play they must discover why they have been called to Denmark, and can't even remember how their day started much less the fact that they were childhood friends with Hamlet. They also are unaware of which of them is which just as most audiences probably would be, since these are "minor characters". Stoppard's comedy hinges around the concept of analogizing minor characters to minor human beings, or in other words of a character's self-awareness with his sense of purpose. Each character has a purpose to fulfill in the play, which is analogous to his purpose in life or the "meaning of life" in existential terms.
I wouldn't presume to analyze all the ins and outs of this dynamic because I've only just seen this film for the first time. I didn't laugh all that much at parts that seemed designed to be funny, so maybe this film just isn't my cup o' tea. It definitely wasn't as funny nor as philosophically interesting as most of the actual Shakespeare comedies I've seen, and the post-modern emphasis on self-consciousness doesn't really work in the story's favor or make the characters more appealing to me. Probably the one thing that will stick with me the most was the way Oldman's character kept discovering major physical principals but Roth's character would just miss seeing it. I felt at times that I was being hit over the head with the wit of this film: "WIT! WIT! WIT!". I like an intelligent comedy but this one just didn't appeal to me for whatever reason.