Donnie – A Midsummer Night’s Dream ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

Hi, all! My name is Donnie and I’ll be your guest blogger for this week. Here’s a list of my Shakespeare credentials: 

That’s right: I’m a nepo baby. I only got this gig because I know the bloggers. 

This week I’m covering A Midsummer Night’s Dream, the 1999 fantasy romantic comedy. Before I get into it, though, let me briefly (lol) frame my perspective. I am a baby Shakespearean “scholar” (heavy emphasis on the quotations). Even though I was a huge reader growing up, I never liked Shakespeare in school. I thought the language was indecipherable and my impressions were based mostly on the pop culture depictions of overly dramatic soliloquies while holding aloft a skull. 

I became interested in Shakespeare a few years ago after going to Sleep No More, an immersive theatre experience that draws a lot from Macbeth. (Honorary mention to Mariam’s recommendation to read Tam Lin by Pamela Dean, which inexplicably gives me intense nostalgia for the unique college experience of being an English major that I never actually had.) 

[Sleep No More]

Then, I stumbled upon the Folger Library editions of Shakespeare’s plays, which I credit entirely for their ability to make Shakespeare accessible and understandable to someone like me. 

I picked up A Midsummer Night’s Dream and imagine my surprise when I find that I’m reading a teen romcom with a B-plot of a man transfigured into a literal ass. Delightful! Who would’ve thought that Shakespeare was such a talented and versatile writer?

I’m rambling. Let’s get to the movie. 

I unexpectedly completely adored this movie. In my opinion, MND is a little goofy. I mean, it’s about four young people in love (and they behave about as crazily as you’d expect young people in love to behave), a fairy land with a ridiculously smoldering king, a mischievous and sometimes inept trickster fairy, quite a few love potions, and a man who becomes half-donkey and hooks up with the fairy queen. It’s silly. But I think if you can embrace the unseriousness, you’ll find that MND leans into the camp so thoroughly that it’s genuinely a super fun romcom. I was literally laughing out loud at the performances and how director Michael Hoffman injected even more comedy into the cinematography without adding lines. 

(Aside: this movie was surprisingly(?) horny, featuring, among other things, mud wrestling and a scene where we see Hermia lying down to sleep and Lysander’s hand comically slowly creeping under her arm to grab her breast. I was rolling on my couch laughing.) 

For me, the stand-out performances were Calista Flockhart (Helena), Kevin Kline (Bottom), and Stanley Tucci (Puck). Flockhart kills as the unchosen maiden character. She’s so dramatic and her facial expressions cracked me up. There’s a scene where Hermia and Lysander reveal that they’re going to run away together (in between bouts of making out) and it cuts to Flockhart giving the perfect eye roll in response to their excessive PDA and declarations of love. 

Kline is just superb as Bottom. I feel like Bottom must be a tough character to play because he’s almost always used as stupid comic relief, but Kline plays it so earnestly and somehow also gives the character some dimension. Puck also has a lot of dumb comic relief moments, and I think Hoffman directs more comedic mood into his scenes as well, but I love Stanley Tucci and so I thoroughly enjoyed watching him ham it up. 

I could lightly critique the pacing, because I think there are times that it’s difficult to juggle the two main storylines and it’s a little jarring to wrap up with this abridged performance of Pyramus and Thisbe by Bottom and co. after the lovers’ storyline is already wrapped up. Also, I will admit, I don’t quite understand why Hoffman chose to feature bicycles so heavily. But honestly, I had so much fun watching that I can’t really complain. 

In my book reviews, I always try to make a targeted recommendation. So here, I will say, I can confidently recommend this movie if you like over-the-top romcoms, dramatic teens, or theatre kid camp. Read the Folger Library edition first so it’s easier to follow the story. 

I have one last topic, if you’ve made it this far and somehow you’re still willing to read more. After Missy’s Macbeth post, I’ve been thinking a lot about how well Shakespeare writes his characters, and especially male characters. I still don’t feel like I have a complete answer, but I have to say that I think Hoffman does an excellent job of translating the four young lovers into modern day (okay, fine, ‘90s) sensibilities. 

They’re just SO dramatic. Hermia is prepared to die (or at least run away) to be with Lysander. Helena begs Demetrius to treat her like a dog just so she can be with him. The dudes…honestly, the dudes kind of seem like they just want girlfriends in general as opposed to specifically Hermia and Helena. We can blame some of that on the love potions, but I’m not going to lie and tell you I never saw that happening in high school. 

So yeah, they’re crazy. But I think of college and my first love, and yeah, everything DID feel dramatic and it’s maybe even possible that I, too, did some dumb things in the name of love (stories for another time). So these characters feel mostly believable to me, if a little cliché and gender-conforming. Shakespeare looks at these characters he’s crafted in 1595 and sums it up: “Lord, what fools these mortals be.” Watching in 2025, I would say – some things never change.