Bill ** (2015, Mathew Baynton, Ben Willbond, Jim Howick, Laurence Rickard, Simon Farnaby, Martha Howe-Douglas) – Movie Review

Mathew Baynton stars as hopeless lute player Bill Shakespeare, who leaves his wife Anne Hathaway (Martha Howe-Douglas) and home to follow his dream to make it big in London as a writer.

There are some laughs in this terribly British comedy that plays like a touring company version of Shakespeare in Love, whose idea it seems to gleefully follow, with an added touch of the Monty Pythons and the Carry Ons. It is the first film to be made by the Horrible Histories team, with the personnel playing multiple roles, Monty Python-style. They are fine but it’s perhaps not easy to warm to all of them.

Ben Ben Willbond comes off best as King Phillip II of Spain and thankfully Jim Howick doesn’t overplay his act as Christopher Marlowe. Simon Farnaby’s Earl of Croydon gets stale early on and Laurence Rickard is unremarkable as Sir Francis Walsingham.

Overall, despite the competent comedy turns and some wit in the script, it’s much ado about nothing. Laurence Rickard and Ben Willbond write the hit-and-miss scattergun screenplay, which struggles to find enough jokes to fill the 90 minutes. It is, however, very well shot, dressed and costumed, and generally looks a treat, though Carry On-style studio filming on cheap sets would have done OK anyway – at least if there were enough laughs.

Helen McCrory amuses as Queen Elizabeth I in a take-off of Miranda Richardson’s turn as the Queen in Blackadder. Her spouse, Damian Lewis, has a brief cameo at the start as Sir Richard Hawkins.

There was filming at Redmire near Leyburn, North Yorkshire, UK.

© Derek Winnert 2015 Movie Review

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