Much Ado About Nothing

So this is the review where I’m supposed to pretend that I can understand every word of Shakespeare and read ol’ Willy’s plays in my free time. Well guess what, I haven’t read one since it was assigned in college. But that doesn’t impact how fun Much Ado About Nothing is. Written and directed for screen by Joss Whedon, the cast is made up of a group of the filmmaker’s usual suspects. Alexis Denisoff from “Angel,” Clark Gregg from The Avengers, Nathan Fillion from “Firefly,” the list goes on and on. The film exudes that familiarity throughout with strong chemistry among all of the main players.

With Much Ado, Whedon does well presenting the comedic elements in such a prominent way that allows for the film to work. The actors rely heavily on physical acting in order to clarify the language that is difficult to understand at times. With that being said, I have never seen a Shakespeare film with Shakespearian language that is so clear. Filmed in Whedon’s personal (and very large) house, there is simplicity to the filmmaking that suits the story very well. It’s black and white, in one setting with likeable characters. It has great balance for an independent feature.

Unfortunately there are a few moments where the small budget shows through. For example, a storyline is tied up with a glimpse of a cell phone video that incited some chuckles during my screening, and not in the good way. But all issues are relatively small in scope when looking at the major successes that play out. It’s not all that common to have a writer/director come off one of the biggest films of all time (The Avengers) and dive successfully into a minuscule budgeted indie flick. But this is Joss Whedon we’re talking about. There’s a reason he is the champion of the comic-con crowd.

Each film earns either zero, a half or a full arrow in five categories. The categories are Acting, Writing/Directing, Emotion, Innovation and Overall Impression. The arrows are added up to equal the full score.