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Anonymous

Anonymous

2011
Drama, Suspense/Thriller
2h 10m
A political thriller about who actually wrote the plays of William Shakespeare-- Edward De Vere, Earl of Oxford-- set against the backdrop of the succession of Queen Elizabeth I, and the Essex Rebellion against her. (imdb)
Your probable score
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Anonymous

2011
Drama, Suspense/Thriller
2h 10m
Your probable score
Avg Percentile 42.4% from 494 total ratings

Ratings & Reviews

(494)
Compact view
Compact view
Rated 25 Oct 2011
51
40th
If you give an idiot a paint brush, a canvas and throw money at him, eventually he will paint something that despite of its stupidity is somehow not totally fucking awful... Ladies and gentleman I give you Roland Emmerich and "Anonymous".
Rated 09 Nov 2011
3
28th
Roland Emmerich to Shakespeare aficionados: u mad? XD
Rated 24 May 2015
50
27th
oxford did 9/11
Rated 23 Jan 2012
4
15th
From the guy who gave you Independence Day, Godzilla, The Day after Tomorrow and 2012 now comes a movie about William Shakespeare being a fraud... nuff said..
Rated 09 Feb 2012
40
18th
First, I would like to nominate Sebastian Armesto for worst supporting actor of this year: you worked hard for it. Then about the movie, the main idea is interesting, but it seems chaotic, specially at first, not always making you have clues to know which moment in the story we are and not having any idea why a part of it is told until the end (it looks so unnecessary all the time). It goes far beyond Oxford theory by the way. Not that bad, but it could have been done much better than this.
Rated 09 Dec 2011
70
24th
You know that girl that you, and everyone, describes as a 'hot mess'? ...That's what this film is like... A part of you wants to, (and, maybe you will/did), but afterwards, you feel dirty, and conflicted...
Rated 06 Nov 2011
60
52nd
I'm not quite sure what to think of this movie. The production is excellent, the writing and acting too, but for some reason I felt unsatisfied once it ended. This may be because I know its arguments about Oxford's authorship are so easily refutable, and thus everything in the film is ultimately, forgive me, much ado about nothing. There's also the problem of the portrayal of Shakespeare as a drunk, lecherous murderer - Emmerich doesn't need this and a more serious Will would've been better.
Rated 03 Oct 2016
10
11th
I don't mind the occasional conspiracy theory, George W. Bush is a lizard man who shot Princess Diana from the grassy knoll inside the moon landing movie set on a flat earth but who honestly gives a fuck if some lily-wristed frenchman wrote a bunch of boring shit or not?
Rated 25 Mar 2012
70
69th
Cool concept, the movie starts of in the theater and ends in one.
Rated 16 May 2012
26
13th
A world class whiff. It plays as exactly what it is--a hacky filmmaker taking a shot at Masterpiece Theater cinema and falling flat on his fat one. Ignoring all the glaring historical inaccuracies, we've got some of the hammiest acting you'll ever see, an incomprehensibly muddy royal conspiracy plot, and a story that swishes back and forth in time so frequently and arbitrarily, you'll be completely lost. Really, really bad--Shakespeare barely even seems to figure in it.
Rated 07 Feb 2012
68
20th
It's not bad for the bizarre piece of historical fiction it is, though the way it buys into the whole "nobility=better than" ideal is a bit creepy once you realize it. Otherwise it's interesting enough to watch with low expectations but the pacing and focus is too disjointed to let it go beyond ok.
Rated 18 Apr 2014
66
41st
Fails to stay on track and coherent. Bits and pieces of greatness from the fantastic cast as they stumble through the story.
Rated 15 Apr 2012
97
98th
Fantastic, not a great historical piece but great to watch. Great acting and good directing makes for an interesting movie.
Rated 21 May 2012
68
37th
The only thing Roland Emmerich tries to destroy this time is the legacy of William Shakespeare. To my big suprise he manages to do it in a pretty exciting way.
Rated 28 Jan 2012
80
54th
Who thought Roland Emerich's (Independence Day, 2012) best film would be a period costume drama about Shakespeare being a fake? Impeccable craft design and an entertaining take on history.
Rated 21 Apr 2014
50
50th
Let's just say it: Most scholars believe the premise behind Anonymous is bunk, and the film doesn't do anything to make it seem any more plausible. The chronology is all wrong and the familial bonds are so fantastically, audaciously weird as to make the relationships in the Star Wars saga (Darth Vader built C-3PO and R2-D2 was the family trash compactor!) seem almost plausible by comparison. (pluggedin.com)
Rated 14 Feb 2012
48
20th
If you don't mind history being interpreted loosely and you can suspend your disbelief then you might be able to enjoy this. It's not terrible, but it'll kill a couple hours.
Rated 18 Feb 2012
60
52nd
Emmerich's turn from destroyer of the world to Shakespearian conspiracy theories is not bad at all despite some pretty poor performances. But now, back to making the world end again Roland!
Rated 10 May 2012
80
39th
Good film.
Rated 31 Oct 2011
70
54th
This could have been a great film if it wasn't for two things, a requisite degree in British royalty, and a long list of historical inaccuracies. Keeping track of who is who while flashing back and forth over 40 years is a daunting task otherwise. It's strength is its portrayal of the mythical mystery that "Shakespeare" has become.
Rated 05 May 2013
34
3rd
Pretty silly, and with a very strange structure that leads to large chunks of the story being told as flashbacks within a flashback within a flashback.
Rated 21 Apr 2012
78
49th
A very interesting take on the Shakespeare legend.
Rated 19 Dec 2011
30
19th
Suspend your disbelief and enjoy this beautiful period drama. Unfortunately, De Vere suffers from too many things to do and I found he failed to connect to the audience on a meaningful level. Better here is the story of Ben Jonson and Shakespeare himself. The other storylines suffer from exposition. Although, never has exposition looked so pretty.
Rated 08 Jul 2012
82
63rd
It was hard to rate this film because, on one hand I love Shakespeare and want to believe he wrote his plays. On the other hand this film sets up some interesting questions. I mean Shakespeare was either a genius with very little schooling or someone else wrote these plays. I don't think the film makes a great case either way, but it was still fun to watch. I loved seeing the Globe Theater and the old manuscripts of the plays. The acting was solid, my only problem was the many time jumps.
Rated 02 Sep 2013
65
62nd
I really liked the fresh approach to Shakespeare character; the design was great and the story fun, also a very good performance by Rhys Ifans.
Rated 09 Apr 2012
75
48th
A bit of historical fantasy that's difficult to swallow if you watch it expecting accuracy. It does have a certain engrossing quality, mostly due to excellent costumes and sets, but once again Jamie Campbell Bower (King Arthur in Camelot) managed to massively fail in every scene he was in.
Rated 10 Dec 2011
15
21st
"This deeply dopey travesty's worst instincts are nearly its only entertaining ones." - Bill Weber
Rated 09 Jul 2013
67
44th
The movie was better than I expected. Still it was a little all over the place and I wasn't entirely sure what story they were trying to tell sometimes (You would think this would be a lot about the Shakespeare theories, but most of the time it is an afterthought). The best part of this movie is some pretty damn good acting by some of the leads.
Rated 02 Jun 2013
40
19th
Did Shakespeare actually write everything? I don't know. This movie doesn't know either.
Rated 24 Sep 2013
65
42nd
Only thought when Sebastian Armesto started talking: "Death, where is thy sting?" Ha. What a shit actor.
Rated 29 Jan 2012
60
31st
A nice period piece with lots of filth and bad teeth. Worth a look at.
Rated 02 Feb 2012
44
20th
Among Emmerich's best, which isn't saying that much.
Rated 11 Aug 2012
70
71st
Rhys Ifans turns in a surprisingly good performance in this well made sleazy conspiracy tale.
Rated 27 Jun 2012
48
17th
it starts out promising enough, but as it continues it gets more and more confusing, the story never comes together, you stop caring about the characters... in short it falls apart. The bits of Shakespeare's plays being performed are highlights, but they are few and far between. It never makes a very interesting connection between the plays and the plot and is full of historical inaccuracies that hurt any attempt at a serious argument it might be trying to make.
Rated 24 Oct 2015
5
18th
Fairly entertaining and interesting, it switches between time periods, without enough coding such that the story in the initial stages is difficult to follow and lacks flow.
Rated 22 Jan 2012
72
45th
difficult to keep track jumping back and forth, creating flaws in character development, however overall a good production worth watching... the script is not wonderful but there are some good quotes and the integration of the wonderful poem "O mistress Mine" is very timely..
Rated 30 Nov 2012
30
6th
What's disappointing about Anonymous is that it isn't dumb enough.
Rated 19 Dec 2011
40
13th
19 december 2011, randevu film fest. Majestik / Better than other roland emmerich works but it doesn't mean anonymous is a good film. It is still too bad. Plasticated history for typical hollywood audience.
Rated 06 Nov 2011
51
10th
Roland Emmerich must be given credit here for trying to make a literate, complex film, but the script is a mess, the pace drags, and the very POINT of the film--the Shakespeare-authorship debate--is not explored in depth; the film unquestioningly gives Edward de Vere, Earl of Oxford, as the actual writer. That failing (and the MANY historical inaccuracies) aside, there are compensations in some of the acting (Rhys Ifans, Sebastian Arnesto), the Globe Theater scenes, and the lavish production.
Rated 23 Apr 2012
63
32nd
62.500
Rated 27 Aug 2012
51
71st
It held my attention and i'm pretty sure I was following the story but nothing about it really grabbed me. Decently made and does not require much knowledge of Shakespeare to enjoy it (Good for me, I am pretty ignorant of Shakespeare) nor a lot of knowledge about the monarchy (again, good for me!). In fact knowing a lot about either would make the inaccuracies lower your enjoyment of the film. Watch, but don't use it to learn from!
Rated 17 Feb 2013
4
87th
Despite the improbabilities, possible inaccuracies and likely injustices, I thoroughly enjoyed this film. The snippets of plays being performed onstage are the best part - quite moving indeed.
Rated 08 Apr 2012
50
33rd
I guess I was expecting more from this.
Rated 08 Mar 2020
62
31st
Anonymous makes it hard to follow characters that you barely care about. Ifans and Spall are good, but can't escape the timeline skipping nonsense that Orloff and Emmerich employ to mask the shallowness of their characters. The film's aversion to history would have been fine had embraced its fantasy and fun, instead confounding events to give credence to a conspiracy theory while neglecting any reaching implications. At least we can agree the Cecil's were conniving twerps.
Rated 08 Jan 2023
60
80th
Its flaws double as charms, and among its merits the primary may be that it makes you want to see the full plays within the world of the movie. Watch Alexander Waugh's excellent video presentations for more on Authorship topics.

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