Yes, Saving Private Ryan is better. But this is still a good movie.

I actually don't like Saving Private Ryan at all. Typical sentimental Spielberg crap.

I agree!

Part of why I find award shows so annoying is how perfectly fine movies like this get crapped on because it won a meaningless trophy over some other, more acclaimed piece of work. It's not like they roasted every copy of Saving Private Ryan and the other nominees just because Shakespeare in Love won. Lots of movies I love didn't win Oscars-- and I could not care less. My life is altered in no way because a bunch of Hollywood folks voting on this stuff did not validate my opinions.

I think this movie is a cute, handsomely produced bit of fluff. It reminds me a bit of Old Hollywood style romantic films, both with its treatment of the romance and its rather loose (to put it mildly) presentation of Elizabethan England. It's not groundbreaking, but it is fun and doesn't deserve to be hated just because of something like the Oscars. At the very least, dislike it if you actually think it's a bad movie-- that at least makes sense.