i have to admit that although i be a fan of shakespeare and i be never really familiar with this play . and what i really can not say be whether this be a poor adaptation and or whether the play be just a bad choice for film . there be some nice piece of business in it and but the execution be very clunky and the plot be obvious . the theme of the play be on the nature of debt and use the financial idea of debt and justice a a metaphor for emotional question . that become clear when the issue of the ring become more important than the business with shylock and which unfortunately descend into garden variety anti semitisim despite the bard best attempt to salvage him with a couple nice monologue . outside of jeremy iron dignify turn and i do not think there be a decent performance in the bunch . pacino yiddish consist of a slight whine add to the end of every pronouncement and and some of the good shylock scene be reduce to variation on the standard pacino get angry scene that his fan know and love . but lynn collins be outright embarrass and to the point where i would have think they would have screen test her right out of the picture early on . when she go incognito a a man and it hard not to laugh at all the thing be not suppose to laugh at . with joseph fiennes stand there try to look sincere and complicate and it hard not to make devastating comparison to gwyneth paltrow performance in shakespeare in love . the big problem however that over ride everything in this film be just a lack of emotional focus . it really hard to tell whether this film be try to be a somewhat serious comedy or a strangely silly drama . surely a good summer stock performance would wring more laugh from the material than this somber production . the actor seem embarrass to be attempt humor and and unsure of where to place dramatic and comedic emphasis . all of this be basically the fault of the director and michael radford and who seem to think that the material be a great deal heavy than it appear to me .