Anonymous - 2 stars out of 10

Anonymous - 2 stars out of 10

"Anonymous" is all over the place.  Its title is ironic since this film does not seem to have an identity.  Is it a thriller?  Is it historical?  Is it a romance?  Is it philosophical?  What exactly is this film, if not a jumble of ideas mixed into one.  I wish that they could have just told the Shakespearean conspiracy theory without trying to mimic "Amadeus" by telling the story in the background of another story.  The film continually moves forward and backward through time.  Since it sometimes flashes back 40 years and other times only 5 years, confusion takes over as the characters are sometimes played by the same actors, sometimes by different ones.  You will need a road map to keep all of the characters straight as this film dawdles through time.  It is a shame that this story lacked cohesiveness since the action was good and Vanessa Redgrave offers a nice performance as Queen Elizabeth.  This film showed promise in its previews and offers a unique conspiracy theory but, based on this poor execution, if I was the producer I would want to remain "Anonymous."