Book Review: Twelfth Night by William Shakespeare

For rather obvious reasons, this will not be a review as you usually find them on my blog. What negative aspects could I possibly find in a work of one of the great ones anyway?

Author	William Shakespeare
Title	Twelfth Night (Wordsworth Classics)
Publisher	Wordsworth
Date of Publication	1601/1602 ???
Page Count	128 pages
ISBN	978-1-853-26010-0

Viola and her twin brother Sebastian are shipwrecked and both believe the other to be dead. Viola is saved by an unnamed captain, who helps her masquerade as a man, and subsequently ends up as a page under Orsino, Duke of Illyria. Orsino asks Viola, known to him as Cesario, to help him woo Olivia, a beautiful if cold-hearted countess. Olivia, though, falls in love with the sensitive Cesario (Viola in disguise). The entire play is spread out through five acts and has a comic subplot which takes up a significant part. In this subplot, quite a number of secondary characters conspire to make Malvolio, Olivia's head steward, believe his mistress returns his feelings.

This is one of the few cases in which it is not a book that catched my eye, but a movie adaptation. I have always had and will always have a soft spot for anything Shakespeare, so when I watched She's the Man (Full Screen Edition), I was surprised to find out it was based on Shakespeare's Twelfth Night. I first picked up the movie because I wanted some fun teen flick to relax and just sit back and enjoy it. But oh what little did I realize about it! Now granted, I do not often watch a movie before I read the book because I'm a firm believer in "The book is always better!" (but the movie might still be worth watching). All in all, this was maybe the 5th case of movie before book in my entire life?

First off, it has my all-time favorite guy in there - Channing Tatum! And no, I'm not above and beyond squealing and swooning, when it comes to this guy.

(For more pics of Channing Tatum, click on the pic above - that's the blog from which I got this one.)

While the movie is far from an exact adaptation of the original play by William Shakespeare, it is well worth watching and I managed to watch it 4 times withing 26 hours. There are quite a few not so obvious hints at Twelfth Night and other tuned down, yet hilarious scenes one does not necessarily see the first time around. If you're up for a little funny, yummie movie, you might want to go out and watch this. And no, I'm on purpose not saying anything about Shakespeare's play. I love his works and there's nothing better!

Oh, and for the record, if you're all up for a little eye candy in form of Channing Tatum: he rocks sports outfits, regular clothes, towels & a tux in this one (and I'm somewhat certain I forgot another style)...