[Movie Review] Much Ado About Nothing (2013)

Posted on June 21, 2013 by thegrandshuckett in Movie Reviews // 1 Comment

Plot Summary: A modern retelling of Shakespeare's classic comedy about two pairs of lovers with different takes on romance and a way with words.

Director: Joss Whedon

Writers: William Shakespeare (play), Joss Whedon (screenplay)

Runtime: 107

Main Cast:

Amy Acker as Beatrice
Alexis Denisof as Benedick
Nathan Fillion as Dogberry
Clark Gregg as Leonato
Reed Diamon as Don Pedro
Fran Kranz as Claudio
Jillian Morgese as Hero

Review: by Anthony & Lee

The only knowledge we had about this movie prior to seeing it was that it was based off of Shakespeare classic comedy, and with such great source material in the hands of the very capable Joss Whedon, we knew we were in for a great time.

What We Liked:

Much Ado About Nothing was a great, feel good romantic comedy. It was Shakespeare, so of course the story was fantastic. The comedy, however, was amazing. There were more laugh out loud moments than we could fit in a short review. There was wit and high-brow humor in the frequent bouts of banter, but there was also still good old fashion physical comedy.

Joss Whedon did a sensational job adapting the play to a movie. The characters and plot translated wonderfully, and the story unfolded adeptly.

The movie kept the Shakespearean language. This may be a deterrent to would-be viewers, since Shakespeare can be a bit tedious to decode. Unlike most movies, it required active attention, which threw us off a bit, but once we got the hang of it, which took a few minutes, we were able to see positive contribution of maintaining the original language.

The acting was superb. Since the script used Shakespearean language, it allowed the actors to perform in a manner unusual to the big screen, almost as though they were performing an actual play. This was displayed most emphatically in the acting of Nathan Fillian and Alexis Denisof. Nathan Fillian’s portrayal of Dogberry was nothing short of hilarious. We were also particularly pleased by Clark Gregg’s performance.

It ended with a dance party. Every movie should end in a dance party.

What We Didn’t Like:

The movie was in black and white. It caught us off our guard, but our distaste for it passed quickly. As the movie progressed, the lack of color became less of an issue.

The speed with which Shakespeare’s plots progress requires a certain suspense of disbelief. It was not really a fault of the movie, but potential viewers do need to recognize this fact going into the movie.

Summary

Much Ado About Nothing was spectacular. It had all the wit and hilarity of the usual Shakespeare comedy, which was put over the top by the skillful acting of an amazing cast. It is definitely worth watching.

You can purchase Much Ado About Nothing on Blu Ray from Amazon here:

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