Movie Review - Let's Kill Ward's Wife

Let's Kill Ward's Wife (2014)

Starring Patrick Wilson, Scott Foley, Donald Faison, James Carpinello, Greg Grunberg, Dagmara Dominczyk, Amy Acker, and Nicolette Sheridan

Directed by Scott Foley

***This film is currently streaming on Amazon Prime***

This is one of those late-night, "I'm in the mood for something light", "I'm in the mood for something under ninety minutes" kind of movies.  These hardly ever end well.  Let's Kill Ward's Wife is not an exception to that rule.  Best known for his roles on Scandal and Felicity, first time director and screenwriter Scott Foley fills his film with his tv actor friends, but his attempts at dark comedy fail to prove successful.  Admittedly, there's a tiny bit of charm that arises from these personable actors taking on such a dour story, but that allure wears thin quickly.

Newly married and now a new father, Ward (Donald Faison) is essentially shackled to his stereotypical bitch of wife Stacy (Dagmara Dominczyk) and Ward's buddies and their significant others aren't enjoying this new marital relationship.  After jokingly discussing an attempt to kill Stacy, an accident makes their wishes come true which then sets up a string of events that cause the group to commit acts they've never even thought about doing before.

Ultimately, the problem is that the script simply isn't very good.  Motivations are weak and the comedy is even weaker.  I'll give credit to the cast for always keeping things light and amusing, but they aren't given much to do.  There are much better comedies that have tread similar paths and you're better off leaving Let's Kill Ward's Wife behind.

The RyMickey Rating:  D

Movie Review - Much Ado About Nothing

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