Salt Lake Tribune Review

Oh, Casanova, what have they done to you? How did the legendary seducer and stud turn into such a swooning little puppy?
Director Lasse Hallstršm ("Chocolat") and a gondola full of writers have turned the notorious womanizer into a paragon of romantic virtue -- which is a bit like creating a politically correct Archie Bunker. Sure, it can be done, but what do you have left? A character without characteristics, a shell of a man good only for keeping the ornate costumes filled out.
Casanova is played by Heath Ledger, and the movie must be considered Ledger's "other" movie of the season (behind the justly acclaimed "Brokeback Mountain"). Ledger is no doubt having fun doing his best Errol Flynn, making out with beautiful women and narrowly escaping discovery by the women's husbands, fathers, mothers superior, etc.
Alas, the story finds Casanova not at the height of his reputation, but as he's trying to live it down. He is told by his indulgent patron, the Doge of Venice (Tim McInnerny), that he must marry and settle down soon, before Rome sends the Grand Inquisitor to hang him. Casanova locates a possible fiancee, the virginal Victoria (Natalie Dormer), but his eye is caught by the fiercely independent Francesca Bruni (Sienna Miller), a proto-feminist who despises the very notion of Casanova.
Screenwriters Jeffrey Hatcher ("Stage Beauty") and Kimberly Simi (with a story assist by Michael Cristofer) try to set up an elaborate farce of hidden identities, with Casanova stealing the name of a visiting lard merchant (played with rotund hilarity by Oliver Platt) and later masquerading as Francesca's favorite writer -- not knowing that the writer is actually Francesca's nom de plume.
The script aims for the high-toned silliness of a Shakespearean comedy, complete with a final courtroom scene that cribs heavily from "The Merchant of Venice," but without an inkling of the wit that makes the Bard's works sing. Hallstršm's direction, too focused on the expensive sets and costumes, couldn't be slower if he had his stars wading through the Venice canals. (Oh, and the sex scenes are downright tame, considering the R rating.)
The supporting cast, which includes Lena Olin as Francesca's conniving mother and Jeremy Irons as the malevolent Inquisitor, is mostly left high and dry. Only Platt, giddily playing up his character's porcine plumpness, gets any laughs. Alas, when Platt rolls off screen, "Casanova" leaves us with the beautiful-but-bland Miller and the emasculated Ledger, who, frankly, was more manly and more magnetic making out with Jake Gyllenhaal in "Brokeback Mountain."
-- Sean P. Means

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