SHAKESPEARE

Synopsis

Feature film. A high-school, teen movie. Josie Geller (Drew Barrymore), a straightlaced 25-year-old copy editor on the Chicago Sun-Times, is commissioned to write an undercover expose on life in high school. She disguises herself as a teenager and enrols for school and soon is attracted to the class heart-throb. The experience awakens memories of humiliations in her real schooldays when she never had a boyfriend or been ‘properly kissed’. Not an obvious re-working of As You Like It although this is the play which Sam, teaches the class, and the love story which later develops between Sam and the ‘disguised’ Josie shares Shakespeare’s theme of disguise and comedy.

Language

English

Country

United States

Medium

Film

Technical information

Colour / Sound

Year of release

1999

Duration

107 mins; 9,657 feet

Credits

Director

Raja Gosnell

Producer

Juvonen. Nancy; Sandy Isaac

Cinematographer

Alex Nepomniaschy

Screenplay

Abby Kohn; Marc Silverstein

Music

David Newman (2)

Production Design

Steven Jordon

Cast

Drew Barrymore	Josie Geller (Rosalind)
David Arquette	Rob Geller
Michael Vartan	Sam Coulson

Additional Details

Production type

Fiction Films

Plays

As You Like It

Subjects

Drama

Keywords

Shakespeare, William (1564-1616); Teen movie

Notes

General

The students use the Folger edition of Shakespeare’s plays.

Awards

Drew Barrymore secured a nomination for the 2000 American Comedy Award for Funniest Actress in a Motion Picture (Leading Role).

Reviews

Roger Ebert, Chicago Sun-Times (April 9, 1999).

Production Company

Name

20th Century Fox

Distributor (Sale)

Name

Retail outlets