There is an old saying about, “You are not really an actor until you make it to Broadway, you are not really a great actor until you can act in a Shakespeare play”. For those of us who think that acting is easy, or if you think you can act, try and memorize or even understand any Shakespeare play. The new movie “The Tragedy of Macbeth” is all about admiring the acting skill of Denzel Washington and Francis McDormand, who are two multiple Academy Award winning actors. This film is not about enjoying the actual story, or understanding the scenes, or most of what the actors or saying and is in fact rather agonizing to sit through, because I for one had to leave before the end. This is a film that should be shown at an acting school within an Ivy League college, and not shown in theaters.

One has to admire Joel Cohen for adapting a very challenging Shakespeare play into a screenplay and shortening the story to try and fit it into almost 2 hours, but for me this is not enough to recommend as I would any normal movie.

The Rotten Tomatoes for this movie are a very high 93%, a rating I would agree with if it were an education class on acting, not a movie that is supposed to entertain an audience. This movie should be seen by big fans of Shakespeare, Denzel Washington or Francis McDormand – not for anyone who is looking for 2 hours of escape. Therefore I cannot recommend this movie, despite the fact that some Academy Award nominations might come from this film.