Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Undead: Critic Reviews

A toothless satire whose targets include vampire mania, low-rent theater, indie romantic comedies, Scorsese, Shakespeare and Law & Order, it plays like a Web series expanded to feature length.

All of the riffs are twice and thrice removed, but the effect is lively rather than tiresome, largely on the strength of game performances, Sean Lennon's atmospheric score, and writer/director Jordan Galland's clear affection for his sources.

Rosencrantz & Guildenstern Are Undead is one sly slice of the ridiculous.

This loopy farce has the feel of a wacky off-off-Broadway play with more energy than wit, but it has its moments.

Starts off feeling clever and original but turns silly and diffused as its convoluted story spins out.

A delightful mix of intelligence, hilarity, scares and unbridled talent...

A clever title in search of a movie to support it, this playful mash-up of Shakespeare and vampires aims for the type of brain-twisting meta-plot that Charlie Kaufman has all but monopolized. Mr. Kaufman makes it look easy. It's not.

This is a movie so in love with its own supposed cleverness that it never realizes it's not all that clever.

Plays like a movie that started out as a clever pun and never really moved on from there.

Will you ever see another film in which Hamlet's name is screamed histrionically in a fake Egyptian desert?

The whole theatrical setup feels woefully underimagined.

If Hamlet is the greatest tragedy in the history of theater, than Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are Undead is definitely one of the best spoofs of same.

This comedy has some clever touches that make it mildly diverting, but it loses steam as characters lose their blood to the undead.

Displays both sharp literary intelligence and tongue-in-cheek pop silliness.