Forget that patronizing phrase of qualified approval, "a feel-good movie."

"Shakespeare in Love" is a feel-great movie.

It stirs a terrific awareness of both the exhilaration and pain of artistry and creativity. And you can also be assured that it makes you feel terrific about love, romance and sex.

The exquisite movie has a quality that few contemporary comedies can claim – genuine verbal wit. Almost every line of dialogue provokes a smile, a chuckle or a guffaw. That shouldn't be surprising, since it's co-written by Tom Stoppard, whose "Rosencranz and Guildenstern Are Dead" made merry with Hamlet.

With a superb cast headed by a luminous Gwyneth Paltrow and a smoldering Joseph Fiennes, "Shakespeare in Love" is both ribald and romantic, fulfilling its title's amorous promise.

When first seen, the young writer called Will Shakespeare (Mr. Fiennes, who is Ralph's less austere younger brother) is a 1593 London wannabe. He's enjoyed some successes, but his talent is deemed inferior to that of self-aggrandizing Christopher Marlowe (an unbilled Rupert Everett). Currently, Will is prodded by a debt-ridden and increasingly hysterical theater owner (Geoffrey Rush) to spin out a crowd-pleasing comedy, "Romeo and Ethel, The Pirate's Daughter."

Will tries half-heartedly to do justice to "Romeo and Ethel," but something is missing. A part of him already feels hollow. He has a wife back home in Stratford-on-Avon, but their marriage has turned cold.

Enter Lady Viola (Ms. Paltrow), who's intelligent enough to appreciate all of Will's plays and sonnets and to recognize that he's not merely a flavor-of-the-fortnight. She also has a passion for acting and a craving for personal independence. But acting is verboten to women in Elizabethan times, and Viola's parents have arranged her marriage to an unworthy lout (Colin Firth). Does this make her an ideal Shakespeare heroine or what?

Will falls madly in love with Viola, even if he isn't quite certain who she is. Although she wears wig, mustache and goatee to disguise herself as a boy in order to play Romeo, they enjoy a lingering kiss. Emotions and identities finally merge beautifully for the first public performance of the romantic tragedy now called "Romeo and Juliet."

The movie is erudite enough to include among its characters a young ruffian named John Roberts, who enjoys the company of rats and savors Will's plays primarily for their body count. But the movie is clever enough so that the character can be enjoyed even by those who don't recognize that John Webster became the leading creator of Jacobean horror plays.

The screenplay mixes Bard cadence with broad jests, as exalted on its level as Cole Porter's lyrics were for "Kiss Me Kate," which dealt with a more tempestuous Shakespearean duo. The comic targets include the eternal egomania of creative talent and the constant battle zone of commerce and artistry. Director John Madden, who last year caught the palpitations of a royal British court in "Mrs. Brown," brings all the screenplay's nuances to lusty life.

Ms. Paltrow and Mr. Fiennes make a sensuous, tender pair. Ms. Paltrow's Viola is warm and sparkling. Except as Jane Austen's "Emma" or as the con artist in "Flesh and Bone," Ms. Paltrow often seemed practiced and even listless. Here, she is consistently vibrant. Mr. Fiennes is always accessible yet never less than convincing as a literary icon. He even looks lively when brooding.

Mr. Rush shows true comic command as the beleaguered producer, while Mr. Everett speaks daggers as the arrogant Marlowe. Mr. Firth wisely underplays the part of Viola's unwanted fiance, not turning him into the expected buffoon. On the other hand, Ben Affleck preens hilariously as an actor who fancies that the play should really be called Mercutio after his character.

Dame Judi Dench, the morose Queen Victoria in "Mrs. Brown," does a powerhouse turn as Queen Elizabeth, a monarch who enjoys her own private jokes but has no time to suffer the frivolities of others. Dame Judi is on her way to becoming an international treasure.

Filled with romantic resonance and bright comic prisms, "Shakespeare in Love" is a beautiful rainbow following a dim holiday movie season.