Any movie review program circa 1990 practically required a home video segment. Rentals of blocky VHS tapes was that significant a piece of the entertainment market. It was also the great equalizer, giving smaller markets that would never see, say, a big screen showing of a playwright’s feature directorial debut, an adaptation of a stage work that provides a clever reimagining of Hamlet from the perspective of two minor characters, access to such comparatively esoteric efforts. Largely stuck with the more dismal wide releases for our main reviews, we tended towards recommendations of art house fare when we were guiding listeners on rental possibilities. That was the case even when, as in this instance, critical integrity required an acknowledgement that the recommendation was tempered somewhat. 

It’s often fascinating when a talented writer decides to play with words. Bending them, reshaping them, exploring all of the possibilities that a single syllable can hold. But sometimes watching the product of that writer’s experiments when they get adapted to a motion picture can be tiring and downright exasperating. That’s the fate that is commonly faced by Tom Stoppard’s ROSENCRANTZ AND GUILDENSTERN ARE DEAD, newly available on home video. The film, like Stoppard’s play from which the film was adapted, is a retelling of Shakespeare’s classic play HAMLET. The twist is that the play is retold from the perspective of two minor characters who pick up on most of the action by eavesdropping on the traumatic events that are occurring in the Castle Elsinore. The dialogues between the two main characters are filled with wordplay, and it’s never more effective than a verbal tennis match that the two play in the middle of the film that is absolutely hilarious. But at times all the words get a bit overwhelming and you want nothing more than a brief break from the ongoing vocabulary tricks. A break that the film steadfastly refuses to give you. Tim Roth and Gary Oldman are wonderful in the title roles and Richard Dreyfuss has a wryly funny cameo, as well. ROSENCRANTZ AND GUILDENSTERN ARE DEAD can make for an entertaining rental, but keep that remote handy and be ready to use the pause button whenever you need a breather.