Yeah, I tend to think that Shakespeare wrote the plays attributed to him, but the "theory" that this film presents didn't anger me or anything. I just took it as a "what if", as I would any work of fiction.
This is certainly a different sort of genre for Emmerich, although the film itself still suffers from his usual excesses. The plot was a bit convoluted, and the audience isn't really given enough time to get to know the characters in order to develop a vested interest in the proceedings. It's just a little too much "this happens, and then BAM, that happens, then BAM, this happens too", etc. It certainly doesn't help that few of the characters are likeable (particularly the more famous ones, like Shakespeare himself, or Queen Elizabeth).
I will give the actors credit, though, for doing a pretty damn good job with what they had to work with (particularly Rhys Ifans as Edward de Vere). Another plus is that the film looks pretty good -- it's a visually interesting picture, if nothing else. Also, I will admit I didn't see that rather sick twist at the end coming (the one that Allyn Gibson mentions... yes, it is actually a final act reveal). I did find that part somewhat effective.
In the end, Anonymous is a meagerly entertaining, if highly preposterous, costume drama, but it doesn't really rise above that too much. It's nice to see Emmerich going outside of his comfort zone a bit, and while this is probably his best film in quite a while, he still failed to truly hit it out of the park.
I will be generous and give it a grade of average.
