Really, itsounds terrible. William Shakespeare’s Much Ado About Nothing, updatedto the present day with the bard’s (abridged) text spoken by actors wearingcontemporary garb? Ugh. Enough with the Shakespeare updates, OK? And by JossWhedon? Mr. Pop Culture? You’re killing me.
It would bewonderful (not really) to report that this cold critic’s heart remained icy,that this new Much Ado was as rotten as Denmark during Hamlet’s time. Itain’t. In fact, Whedon’s Much Ado About Nothing is delightful, fun andfull of life. (But I reserve to the right to re-shrink my cold critic’s heartin the future.)
Whedon’slast few movies have been markedly different from each other. Remember, hewrote and directed the gargantuan (and surprisingly giddy) Marvel movie versionof The Avengers. He co-wrote the genre-bending andcould-have-been-dumb-but-was-a-laugh-riot The Cabin in the Woods, inwhich it is explained to us, the audience, why horror movies follow a path fromwhich they never diverge. He’s also responsible for the TV showsFirefly, Buffy the Vampire Slayer and Angel.
So, why nottackle Shakespeare? Why not cast your friends (many of the actors have appearedin Whedon’s TV shows and movies)? Why not let the words roll trippingly on thetongue (wrong play, but whatevs)? Why not shoot an ultra low-budget version inyour own home in 12 days? WHY NOT?
Somehow theunfussiness of the production and the speed under which it was made contributesto its freshness. And the Santa Monica setting belies the notion thatcontemporary Shakespeare updates are necessarily bad (or at best, mediocre).When there’s this much passion invested, and the actors are this game, the factthat we’re holstering guns instead of sheathing swords doesn’t much matter.
The story,in case you’re far removed from English class: Leonato (Clark Gregg) lives inMessina with his daughter, Hero (Jillian Morgese), and niece, Beatrice (AmyAcker). The story begins with Leonato welcoming home old friends from war,including Don Pedro (Reed Diamond), Claudio (Fran Kranz) and Benedick (AlexisDenisof). There’s also Don John (Sean Maher), Don Pedro’s illegitimate brother,who exists for the sole purpose of making trouble for everyone else.
And maketrouble he does. Claudio falls in love with Hero and they plan to marry, butDon John has one of his henchman trick Claudio and Don Pedro into thinking Herois a tramp, and they shun her publicly. Meanwhile, Don Pedro, Leonato andClaudio try to get Beatrice and Benedick together, thinking their outwardmutual revulsion hides secret love.
You know therest, right? (Spoiler alert: It works out for everyone.)
I’ve alwaysmarveled at the fact that someone (say, Shakespeare) can take a publicshunning, false claims of non-purity and threats of death (and fake deaths),and make it light and airy. But that’s Much Ado About Nothing, andWhedon and the cast show respect for the text, and also clearly love tearinginto the words.
Acker, inparticular, has fun, making Beatrice bouncy but still serious and passionate;she’s no one’s fool (until she is, of course). Denisof’s Benedick is nearly herequal, though his voiceover-ready larynx occasionally threatens to get in theway.
Kranz doeswonders with Claudio, moving successfully back and forth between simmering ragewhen he believes Hero has been with another, and chastened sadness when hethinks she’s died as a result of his accusations. And Whedon works in somenifty directorly touches, as when Don John steals a cupcake at the weddingreception after he’s brought the proceedings to a screeching halt.
The bestperformance belongs to Diamond. He sounds as if he’s been speakingShakespeare’s text as long as he’s been speaking, truly comfortable in the roleof Don Pedro. Nathan Fillion is an appropriately goofy, yet somehowunderstated, Dogberry.
So, get theeto a multiplex, and see Much Ado About Nothing. (Here, mercifully,endeth my corny wordplay.)
MUCH ADO ABOUT NOTHING
Directed by Joss Whedon
With Amy Acker, Alexis Denisof and Nathan Fillion
CCA Cinematheque
108 min.
PG-13
