Rent Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead (1990)

Quirky but different - a stage play put to screen - Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead review by KS

This film is already excellently reviewed by Count Otto Black above so all I have to add is that I found the wordplay and both leads mastery of the material very engaging. The comedy, such as it is, won't make you laugh out loud but I smiled pretty much the whole way through the film.

Some standouts were the scene where the leads meet the theatre troupe for the first time which I immediately went back to after finishing the film and the scene where Tim Roth is watching the troupe performing in the castle for the hoi polloi. In a film that concentrates so much on the verbal sparring and jousting between it's characters, it's satisfying to think of the positives of the physical aspects of the two aforementioned scenes.

The character of Hamlet was another highlight and probably testament to the strength of the source material that watching his performance makes me want to read Hamlet again after decades!

Amusing - Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead review by CM

Funny & at times touching, though not as clever as expected, & in need of editing - it could have had 20 minutes cut without much loss - the script touches on philosophical questions in a similar way to good sci-fi, eg, Red Dwarf.

Hilarious and potty - Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead review by AER

I both enjoyed and endured Rosencrantz and Guildernstern Are Dead, a forgotten comedy directed by Tom Stoppard based on a play by WS Gilbert. I wish the DVD had had subtitles as the sound on the version supplied was muddy so some of it was lost to me. However, please refresh on your knowledge of Hamlet else much of the film's enjoyment will be lost too, as that's part of what makes R&CAD such a hoot. It's how these minor characters slot into the the main play that make it watchable. It seems they had more impact on proceedings than we thought. They even get Polonius killed! Another minor character from the play is given a chunky role - the Player King (played here with gusto and aplomb by Richard Dreyfuss). His troupe of performers are hilarious with their great impromptu performances. Gary Oldman is gives great 'doofus' and Tim Roth as the slightly cleverer one / or more oblivious one of the pair (which one is which is a mystery) is on fine form. It reminded me of Samuel Beckett's Waiting for Godot more than Shakespeare due to the exchanges and the subject matter. I loved the way GO invented / discovered lots of popular physics experiments.

At times baffling, but most hilarious. Do yourself a favour though, watch Hamlet before, or you will get very lost, very quickly.

Rosencrantz and Guildestern are Dead Boring - Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead review by CV

Tom Stoppard is a great playwright: I recently saw 'Arcadia' a few weeks ago which play was loaded with much academic research but entertaining at the same time. I watched the first two scenes of this film and gave up in disbelief. The first scene should grab the audience's attention but here a coin was tossed interminably with the call of "heads" every time. The second scene was in a different location but with the same vacuous and tedious dialogue, if it was dialogue at all. I couldn't suffer any more so I stopped the film. I cannot believe that Tom Stoppard put his name to this puerile slew of nonsense. Watch Kenneth Brannagh's 'Hamlet' and get nearly four hours of solid enjoyment instead.