Much Ado About Nothing (2013)

One of my all time favorites.

Best movie ever!

As Good As It Gets

This is a small, humorous movie in some ways, but it has a huge heart. What a nice experience.

I guess I should have known, but wasn't aware this film was done in Shakespearean verse until it began, and even then I thought the opening scene was going to give way to modern dialog. It took some getting used to, but once well under way, the picture turned out to be quite entertaining. I'm not a Shakespeare buff, so the material was all new to me and the actors involved did a fine job of presenting the play. Maybe this would be a good way to introduce classic literature to an otherwise disinterested audience. I recently watched "Shakespeare in Love" and that was cleverly done as well, however the black and white filming using a present day setting in this film was rather unique. For added poignancy, I think I'll now seek out the Kenneth Branagh version for comparison. I might become a Shakespeare buff after all.

I notice a lot of the most negative reviews of this movie are from hardcore Shakespeare buffs, so I'll start by noting that I am not one of those. Shakespeare is challenging to understand and this particularly play has some serious issues with it, and I watch Shakespeare adaptations in part just to see how people repackage the Bard and try to deal with the complexity of the language. So for me, a black and white, modernized version of Much Ado About Nothing with a millennial vibe is appealing.The movie does a good job with the dialogue, with actors speaking in a reasonably conversational tone that avoids "I AM ACTING Shakespeare" pitfalls. The cast is uniformly excellent, but I found Amy Ackerling and Nathan Fillion particularly effective. And while, as usual, I sometimes lost the thread of individual sentences, overall it's a very witty play, even if it has a plot that was probably absurd even at the time.I will say that overall I'd give the edge the Kenneth Branaugh Emma Thompson movie version. As likable as the cast in this one is, the talent of the leads in the earlier version has an electrifying quality lacking here. But it's definitely worth watching.

Joss Whedon's Santa Monica hacienda, with its terraces, staircases and multiple levels, makes a great Shakespearean theater, and why wouldn't a Sicilian duke have a swimming pool? This version stands tall besides Branagh's film from '93; as far as the line readings go, seems like it's better to have a cast that's on pretty much the same level of competency than one, like Branagh's, that ranges from the stellar (Emma T) to the abysmal (Keanu). (That said, the actors who seem most comfortable with the text, playing the small parts of the friar and the sexton, remind us of how much we're missing.) The problems that modern viewers are likely to have with the play—Dogberry's stupid puns aren't the least bit funny and Claudio's so easily tricked into thinking that his beloved's been seduced by the evil Don John's monkey boy—didn't seem to loom so large in this breezy, brisk performance. Enjoyed the shtick with the cellphones, plastic handcuffs and of course the snorkel. Those craving authenticity might want to take a look at the Globe Stage version (also 2012), with Eve Best of "Nurse Jackie" fame as Beatrice; supposed to be available from Amazon.

OK, using "Shadow" in the title is a poor attempt at a pun over the use of black/white film... Which never works because there's never enough contrast. There is no Black, there is no White... It's tedious Grey, start to finish. Comparing this to the 1990's version is completely unfair, as in spite of 20 years of technological upgrades, the "original" sounds, looks and just feels better. This is using a TV-actor cast, and it unfortunately shows, as it's just wooden. The charm, banter and wit of the original (movie or story) is completely lost because nobody looks like they are actually enjoying themselves - making for a very strange "comedy".I had to watch the Thompson/Branagh version as soon as I finished with this, just to get the poor taste out of my head - and I'm glad I did.