Much Ado About Nothing (2013)
Starring Amy Acker, Alexis Denisof, Clark Gregg, Nathan Fillion, Fran Kranz, Sean Maher, Reed Diamond, and Julian Morgese
Directed by Joss Whedon
***This film is currently streaming on Netflix***
It always takes me about thirty minutes to get acclimated to Shakespearean dialog. In those thirty minutes, I often find myself wondering why I put myself through watching interpretations of his work, but I eventually get won over and that's certainly the case here with Joss Whedon's modern-day updating of Much Ado About Nothing.
Set in a California home, Much Ado tells the tale of Beatrice (Amy Acker) and Benedick (Alexis Denisof) -- two former lovers (at least in this production) who have quite a love-hate relationship with one another. Neither will admit that the other is their true love and instead spend their days poking fun at each other's idiosyncrasies. Benedick has arrived at Beatrice's uncle Leonato's (Clark Gregg) home for a get-together weekend along with Leonato's good friend Don Pedro (Reed Diamond) and Don Pedro's good friend Claudio (Fran Kranz). Upon arrival, Claudio declares his undying love for Leonato's daughter Hero (Julian Morgese) at which point Leonato offers up to him her hand in marriage. (So we have two love stories going on at the same time, for those who are already confused by the older English names.) Unfortunately for Claudio and Hero, things don't go smoothly as not everyone who is partying at Leonato's abode wants the two of them to get married and may do whatever is possible to nix the upcoming nuptials.
I had seen Kenneth Branagh's version of Much Ado About Nothing over a decade ago so the story here was somewhat fresh for me and not immediately resonant in my mind. I was surprised at how witty I found the dialog (once I got acclimated, as I mentioned) and I found the humorous tete-a-tete between Beatrice and Benedick to be charmingly romantic. It certainly helps that Amy Acker and Alexis Denisof (two veterans of Joss Whedon tv series) have a fantastic rapport with one another with Acker in particular impressively capable of handling both the comedic and dramatic sides of her character -- a woman who wants to outwardly show independence, but also wants the love of a man to latch onto.
Admittedly, the modern-day updating isn't perfect, but it provides a different point of view than we're used to seeing and creates an easier transition for those who aren't used to seeing the Bard's words play out. I know Branagh's take on this same material is well-loved, but I don't remember it nearly enough to draw a comparison to this, so instead I'll just say that this Much Ado About Nothing -- a passion project for The Avengers director Whedon -- is an amusing interpretation of a classic piece of literature.
The RyMickey Rating: B
First movie I went and saw after moving here, so impression slightly tinged by just thrill of doing something that I like doing in this city. Had to drive the same (or maybe more?) as going to Philadelphia, because Houston is big. It was only playing at the Ritz-equivalent here, of course. I think it is a Landmark theatre, actually. I was equally thrilled when I saw it added to Netflix instant-watch, thinking I'd watch it right away. But that was months ago. and I haven't yet. Maybe there's a Shakespearean plot-reference possible here.
ReplyDeleteSaw it with Greg, who's not big period-piece-language person, but was surprised at how much he laughed and liked it. Found it much funnier and easier for me to keep-up with than the play versions I have seen of it (I think two) and probably the Branaugh film too, which I have re-watched some time in last year. That is, after the requisite 15-20 mins or so of re-arranging sentences and of doing quick estimations of translations before having the dialogue style click.
What I liked about it was that I felt like I was able to understand the "sarcasm" behind certain lines more than usual in part because of the modern-day updating and in part because of the actors. The two leads, in particular, did a nice job of "modernizing" the dialog via their diction/manner of speech.
ReplyDeleteIt is weird (although not really when you think about it) that it seemingly takes everyone a good 15-20 minutes to acclimate to Shakespearean dialog. It happens to me every time I see a presentation of his work...I'm happy I'm not the only one...