The thing about Joss Whedon that anyone in the business has to respect is the absolute need, if not addiction, to be constantly creating at any and all opportunities. That’s why, when he was on a contractually obligated vacation from his work near the end of The Avengers, he took twelve days and some of his favorite actors to film an adaptation of a classic Shakespeare production – in his own house. The man may have a problem, but audiences reap the benefit, because Joss’s darling indie version of Much Ado About Nothing is brilliant, and one of the year’s most artistically satisfying accomplishments on film.
[pullquote_left]Joss’s darling indie version of Much Ado About Nothing is brilliant, and one of the year’s most artistically satisfying accomplishments on film.[/pullquote_left]The real charm of the film is how organically and naturally the story flows in the environment Whedon sets up, all while being done with production values that any aspiring filmmaker could accomplish with the right equipment. The cast, on the other hand, is something only Joss Whedon could have pulled together, but more on that later. The film is set in modern time but filmed in black-and-white, with classic Shakespeare dialogue, and takes place in an upper class house over the course of a wedding weekend. It does feel a bit odd at the start of the film when the characters start to speak in The Bard’s tongue, but it’s easy to settle into as the plot starts to take flight.
As the story goes, Much Ado is the follies of two young couples, Benedick and Beatrice (who aren’t really a couple yet) and Claudio (Fran Kranz) and Hero (Jillian Morgese) who are soon to be married. In the spirit of modernizing the story, the tale can easily be equated to “First World Problems” of love and relationships. Everyone is rich and bored and decide to toy with each other, most notably tricking Benedick and Beatrice into believing the other is in love with them. All the while, the characters plot and drink and plot some more about how to one-up each other, and it’s great fun.
[pullquote_right]It’s a veritable Easter egg hunt of the director’s previous cast members, representing all of his works.[/pullquote_right] One the best things about the film is the ensemble cast that responded to the Joss call and spent two weeks in the Whedon-Cave. It’s a veritable Easter egg hunt of the director’s previous cast members, representing all of his works, including Buffy, Angel, Firefly, Dollhouse and The Avengers. Alexis Denisof, an actor I’ve longed to see become a huge star, takes the lead role of Benedick that perfectly suits his talent of shifting gears from slapstick silly to grimly serious. His muse, Amy Acker (also his love interest on Angel) as Beatrice, has great chemistry with Alexis but tends to flare a bit too dramatic in this one for me.
[pullquote_left] Fillion doesn’t come into the film for a quite a while but once he does he steals every single scene with the help of his little buddy Tom Lenk as Verges.[/pullquote_left]The supporting cast are all quite good, but the most notable stand-outs are Clark Gregg (The Avengers) as Leonato and Nathan Fillion in all his dim-witted glory as Dogberry. Fillion doesn’t come into the film for a quite a while but once he does he steals every single scene with the help of his little buddy Tom Lenk as Verges. These two need to find a project together immediately, because they play off each other hilariously. I’d regret if I didn’t mention the quiet fury in an unexpected turn for everyone’s favorite Firefly doctor Sean Maher as Don John, which certainly displays his obvious ability to play a great understated villain character.
Not all of the cast members are as on-point, and some tend to overplay their characters as if this were in one of Shakespeare’s more serious works. Fran Kranz and Amy Acker (as I mentioned early) both transitioned a bit too heavy for my tastes, and Spence Clark Treat as Borachio seemed pretty out of his depth here. None of the overall performances are particularly bad, but they did detract a bit from the overall quality of the cast.
If you need any more reasons to have Joss Whedon make you sick, he also composed the beautiful and perfectly fit score that lightly adds a wonderful summer night feel to the film. He also recruited his brother and Dr. Horrible compatriots Jed Whedon and wife Maurissa Tancharoen to perform versions of the actual Shakespeare songs in the original play. Jed and Maurisa have done quite a bit of music together and sound great, both having contributed to each other’s solo albums (I’m a huge fan Jed Whedon’s History of Forgotten Things album).
[pullquote_right]The film has humor, heart, love and just the right amount of danger to be not only a great date movie, but one of the best films of 2013.[/pullquote_right]Much Ado About Nothing comes across as such an effortlessly good adaptation of Shakespeare that it almost lulls you into believing that this is an easy task, but the superb direction and excellent cast make The Bard’s work accessible even to those who avoid it or have no interest.
The film has humor, heart, love and just the right amount of danger to be not only a great date movie, but one of the best films of 2013.