Movie of the Week: Much Ado About Nothing

[jacey]

Not just Much Ado About Nothing but Joss Whedon's Much Ado About Nothing, reputedly shot in a couple of days, in modern drsss, black and white, in Joss' own home, with a cast of his regulars more often seen fighting vampires or running illicit cargoes through the 'Verse. And it's fun.

My only complaint is that this movie has such limited release that we had to trek to a little-known part of Sheffield to find an art-house cinema with one showing, luckily on a Wednesday. It was, however, worth the trek.

You probably know the storyline: a pair of young lovers being messed about by malicious intent while the two people trying to set things right, despite their own relationship being somewhat gladatorial, end up finally admitting they are in love, due initially to a jest played on them by friends. It's not a play I'm overly familiar with (I don't think I've seen it since my school days) but it's not difficult to grasp, especially since it's played so well, with lovely touches of humour and a modern take on the songs.

Amy Acker (Angel/Dollhouse/Cabin in the Woods) plays Beatrice while Alexis Denisov (Buffy/Angel/Dollhouse/Avengers Assemble) plays Benedick. They are an engaging pair of leads with good chemistry and an excellent delivery of Shakespeare's words combined with great body-language. Fran Krantz (Dollhouse/Cabin in the Woods) plays Claudio while Sean Maher (Firefly/Serenity) plays the wicked Don John, responsible for deliberately setting two young lovers against each other.

Kudos to a much beefed up Nathan Fillion (Buffy/Firefly/Serenity/Doctor Horrible's Sing-along Blog) for his beautifully comic take on the wonderful Dogberry, played as a classic comedy double act with Tom Lenk (Buffy/Angel/Cabin in the Woods).

There are few faces here that you haven't seen in a Joss Whedon production, but it's great to see them all grasping the chance to do something different with both hands. They are all excellent , but this really is Amy Acker's movie.

Thank you, Joss, another hit.

Comments

[ferlonda.livejournal.com]

We saw this just the other day and loved it. Everyone was so good! I'd never seen the play though I knew the basic premise. Anyway, it was just overall superb. And they did it in two weeks! Wow!