 A negative US reviewer was film critic Stanley Kauffmann, who had admired Branagh's film versions of "Henry V", "Much Ado About Nothing", and "Hamlet"; he blasted the film, saying that he could barely get through it, and that, by giving it such an unusual setting, Branagh seemed to be trying to "apologize" to the viewing audience for the fact that "As You Like It" was a Shakespeare film.Critic Virginia Heffernan, writing for "The New York Times", was also negative, pointing out that film reduces the role of main character Rosalind