Much Ado About Nothing, 2012.
Directed by Joss Whedon.
Starring Nathan Fillion, Clark Gregg, Ashley Johnson, Alexis Denisof, Amy Acker, Fran Kranz, Sean Maher, Riki Lindhome and Spencer Treat Clark.
SYNOPSIS:
A modern retelling of Shakespeare’s classic comedy about two pairs of lovers with different takes on romance and a way with words.
You probably know the story by now. Post-Avengers shoot and pre-Avengers edit, Joss Whedon had some two weeks spare. Ignoring the burden of the expectation-laden behemoth on his hands, Whedon decided to use that time to shoot a version of Shakespeare’s Much Ado About Nothing. With his friends, at his house, over 12 days. As anyone would.
That the film was made in such a casual manner is its key strength. This is contemporary Shakespeare done right, not overly-reverential and with a sense of something most adaptations don’t possess: fun. Whedon outdoes the likes of Baz Luhrmann’s horrible Romeo + Juliet by transplanting Much Ado’s prose to a present day setting, but refusing to sex up the material for modern audiences. If purists could oppose the lo-fi trappings (Whedon shoots cheap in black and white), newcomers will here discover one of the more accessible film introductions to the Bard.
Of course it helps that Much Ado contains many of the original rom-com tropes, providing easy access points to the uninitiated. There’s the quarrelling couple destined for one another, the meddling best friends and the obligatory breakup before the final resolution, all wrapped up in a typical comic farce. Plus it doesn’t hurt that the play’s most amusing lines still hold up, delivered by a cast without paycheck-clutching ego (there are no shirtless McConaugheys or superior Anistons here).
The cast is instead largely made up of actors that Whedon has worked with over his career, most of whom (a weak Spencer Treat Clark aside) seem to come from a place of love for the text. The dialogue is still dense with poetry and meaning, but Whedon’s affinity with the audience means his movie has surprising mass appeal, with Nathan Fillion’s bumbling copper Dogberry and Alexis Denisof’s wry lothario Benedick drawing huge laughs from the screening I attended. Where Shakespeare is a dirty word to some, an indicator of the stuffy and the defiantly intellectual, this Much Ado is a crowd-pleaser.
But there is still a flaw, and it’s one that’s not entirely Whedon’s fault. The main problem with Shakespeare’s comedy is that, by act three, it stops being one. A play built on its light heart and gentle wit suddenly adopts graver sensibilities before the end, and the cast seem less comfortable in these moments. This is really no more than an amateur film put together by a bunch of friends – there’s less enjoyment when they have to get serious.
Much Ado About Nothing is a Shakespeare movie – and it is more movie than film – told with passion and verve, if not much technical prowess. Its modest budget, modest intentions, modest everything makes it enormously endearing. If the last act feels less successful, then it’s only because the joy of the first hour is so high. And it’s all so satisfying to note that Joss Whedon – suddenly one of the most powerful filmmakers in Hollywood – still finds time to make movies with his mates in his back garden.
Flickering Myth Rating – Film: ★ ★ ★ ★ / Movie: ★ ★ ★ ★
Brogan Morris – Lover of film, writer of words, pretentious beyond belief. Thinks Scorsese and Kubrick are the kings of cinema, but PT Anderson and David Fincher are the young princes. Follow Brogan on Twitter if you can take shameless self-promotion.
Originally published April 17, 2013. Updated April 11, 2018.
