Much Ado About Nothing DVD Review

Shakespeare is just the gift that keeps on giving. Something about the basic building blocks of his plays just make the characters and stories evergreen. In his downtime from The Avengers, lest he lose his title as “hardest working person in Hollywood”, Joss Whedon adapted and directed one of Shakespeare’s lesser known plays starring many of his acting friends and using his house and its grounds as the location.

When important rich man Leonarto (Clark Gregg) throws a party at his home, two couples emerge from the festivities. The pairing of the wide-eyed Claudio (Fran Kranz) with the equally naïve Hero (Jillian Morgese) and the rather forced, combative pairing of Benedick (Alexis Denisof) and Beatrice (Amy Acker), both of whom profess a disdain for one another and a contempt for marriage and the very idea of love. However, there are dark undercurrents to the celebrations as malcontent Don John (Sean Maher) plots to wreck Claudio and Hero’s wedding and embarrass and shame his brother and friends. The film keeps the Shakespearean text and updates the setting to modern day a la Baz Luhrmann’s Romeo + Juliet. I’ve always liked this approach to adapting Willy Shakes’ work. A lot of his back catalogue can be quite impenetrable for some and seeing the lines performed in a modern setting without ridiculous costumes and such can help people garner the true meanings of what’s being said. Also, it preserves the beautiful prose that Shakespeare wrote in, so there’s that. Of Shakespeare’s plays, I found Much Ado About Nothing one of the hardest to wrap my head around when studying it back in the day. The story is simple enough, but it was all the mind games and asides that made my brain hurt. Whedon makes sense of these elements and uses them effectively. All the cast are great, but the standouts for me were Ashley Johnson as the maid Margaret and Nathan Fillion as the pompous, malapropistic police chief Dogberry.

Thanks to experiences in school, I know there are people out there who flee at the first sign of anything Shakespearean. I can understand this to a certain extent, but I urge you to at least give Much Ado a shot. The rapid fire Spearespeak is a little jarring at first, but it washes over you after a while and you go through a veil of understanding. It’s also probably the funniest of his plays, with a light-hearted tone throughout. It actually shares a lot of DNA with modern romantic comedies. I mean, how often has the “they hate each other/no wait, they love each other” angle been done? How about the misunderstanding that threatens to wreck everything around the end of act two? Just slap in Sandra Bullock or Rachel McAdams, spend five minutes on a badly Photoshopped “quirky” poster and you’re there. The black and white look works well and the setting is gorgeous. That Whedon has a nice damn house. Not content with writing and directing the thing, Whedon also did the soundtrack and has lovely versions of “Sigh No More” and “Heavily”- two songs that are written into the play.

If I had to criticise, I would say the film isn’t really directed with any flair. Occasionally, it felt like I was watching a very slick webseries, rather than an actual film. Yes, the dialogue and the characters are the important parts, but I found it quite distracting at times.

Much Ado About Nothing is great. It preserves everything that’s great about the original play and brings it into the modern day. It’s a genuinely funny adaptation and completely worth your time. Highly recommended.,

[rating=4]

Ben Browne

Rating:
12
DVD/BD Release Date:
7th October 2013 (UK)
Distributor:
Kaleidoscope Home Entertainment
Director:
Joss Whedon
Cast:
Alexis Denisof, Amy Acker, Fran Kranz ,Spencer Treat Clark, Reed Diamond, Nathan Fillion,Clark Gregg.
Buy Much Ado About Nothing:
DVD / Blu-ray [Amazon]