Kenneth Branagh's As You Like It. Well, not so much.

Tonight HBO debuts Kenneth Branagh's latest Shakespeare adaptation, the gender-bender As You Like It starring Bryce Dallas Howard as Rosalind/Ganymede, Alfred Molina as Touchstone, and Kevin Kline as Jaques. The gay interest here isn't terribly high aside from watching Orlando practice his wooing skills on Rosalind who is disguised as Ganymede, a young, waifish man. But even this falls wildly short as the only difference between Rosalind and Ganymede is a jaunty cap that wouldn't have fooled my blind 90-year-old grandmother into believing Rosalind was a man.

It's unfortunate that the homoerotic subtext is so little here as half the fun of a gender-bender is watching a straight man struggle with the idea that he might be attracted to another man. Think James Garner falling for Count Grezhinski (Julie Andrews). While audiences probably never really forgot they were looking at Andrews, the movie at least made a convincing attempt whereas here Howard doesn't so much as alter her voice, her gait, or anything much at all.

If this were a theatrical production, then this conceit wouldn't be so troublesome as it would be, well, theatrical and easier to go along with. But this is a film adaptation and is somewhat more realistic (although not realistic enough for my taste). Why Branagh took so much care in bringing nature into the film (beautifully shot, BTW), but couldn't be bothered to help the audience suspend disbelief that Orlando didn't immediately see through Ganymede's disguise is beyond me.

Frankly, there wasn't much I liked about the production overall (which explains my annoyance over the gender-bender aspect). The tone felt off for much of it, again as if Branagh couldn't decide if he was filming a play or doing an adaption for television. Molina was especially annoying, his Touchstone being too far over the top.

If you're a die-hard Branagh or Shakespeare fan you might enjoy. Everyone else is better off watching Bravo tonight.