Midsummer Night’s Dream, A

Director Michael Hoffman’s adaptation of Shakespeare’s enchanted comedy, where four star-crossed lovers become entangled in a quarrel between the King and Queen of the Fairies, is clumsy and flat-footed where it should be light and gossamer. Luciana Arrighi’s stunning production design and Oliver Stapleton’s burnished cinematography are major assets, but the cast is uneven. Michelle Pfeiffer as Titania and Rupert Everett as Oberon are well-cast and effective, but other key roles are either miscast (Stanley Tucci as a diffident Puck), misconceived (Kevin Kline, a white-suited dandy as the buffoon Bottom) or weakly directed. Hoffman’s heart is in the right place, but the film misfires most of the time.