Comments on: Hamnet (2025)

By: Nate

Nate — Tue, 27 Jan 2026 20:58:06 +0000

“Agnes attends the premiere of Hamlet and act as though she’s never encountered the concept of a play before.”

YES, thank you. I couldn’t believe this was happening in the moment. I said to myself, wait are they really going to have her interrupt this whole performance because she doesn’t understand what’s going on? Is she 7 years old? And that’s damn near what happened. Yet I didn’t see any critical review bump on that, and in fact many of them highlighted the ending as their favorite part of the movie.

That, combined with the fact that I don’t think there’s actually any evidence of a connection between the writing of Hamlet and the death of the son, or that it helped him and his wife get closure, helped save their relationship, etc, makes this movie seem rather silly to me.

The lady friend liked it a lot though (and judging from the critical response, she’s not alone). And you know Buckley is going to win for it. I think a lot of moviegoers today find something refreshing in a heartfelt story with good actors that transports you to a different world without any talking pets or CGI-light-battle-orgy-climaxes, and I can understand that.

By: ED

ED — Tue, 27 Jan 2026 16:06:39 +0000

In reply to Hunter Allen.

I find room in my heart for both (and SHAKESPEARE IN LOVE, not to mention ALL IS TRUE besides) but HAMNET is definitely
in the ‘trusty, well-beloved servant’ and not ‘heart’s darling’ category.

Also, some Serious ‘lead character costuming’ going on: Master Will, where is thy hat?!?

By: ED

ED — Tue, 27 Jan 2026 16:04:24 +0000

One thing I appreciate about this film is that it’s perfectly happy to put across that it’s messy and occasionally-tragic but loving central lovers can be right ***** in their own right: Mrs (Agnes) Shakespeare is consistently rude (and only once hilariously so, at the play) and her treatment of her stepmother strikes me as particularly contemptible (Whether or not this is the case in novel, the second Mrs Hathaway consistently comes across as somebody who never stood a chance with her stepdaughter, rather than somebody who never made the effort): meanwhile Master Will is a hot mess at most times, Bless him and curse him for being a somewhat self-involved neurotic.

Honestly, it’s not my favourite Stupid Sexy Shakespeare film, but it’s a worthy addition to the canon (I spare you my thoughts on Master Will’s attempt at Father Hamlet and will most assuredly sore you my active contempt & dislike for Shakespeare’s Prince of Denmark as I understand him*).

*Would still love to see a HAMLET that went full Film Noir though.

By: Hunter Allen

Hunter Allen — Mon, 26 Jan 2026 20:08:53 +0000

Yeah, but Hamlet and Hamnet are only off by one consonant. So are Hamlet and Amleth, but never you mind.

I’ll conceivably watch this eventually, and one reason is an extreme curiosity as to why they’d make a movie based on the highly-disfavored idea that grief over Hamnet powered the writing of Hamlet. I mean, if you’re gonna just invent stuff, Titus Andronicus predates Hamnet’s death iirc, but feels like it could be more readily twisted into a metaphor about artists exploiting real emotions as grist for art.

More than anything, the whole affair just makes me want to watch Upstart Crow again.