‘Much Ado’ is charming
Joss Whedon’s bare-bones “Much Ado About Nothing” is the cinematic equivalent of Shakespeare in the parking lot – and proof, again, that it doesn’t take much doing to bring Shakespeare to life.
The circumstances of this low-budget, black-and-white “Much Ado” is already well-known: Whedon shot it at his Los Angeles home over just 12 days immediately after production for a slightly larger film he directed: “The Avengers.” So this adaptation of one of Shakespeare’s great comedies arrives with perhaps a touch of smugness. It’s almost surely the only time the Bard has been performed with a suburban golf course in the background.
But Whedon, the fanboy hero of cultishly adored TV shows like “Buffy the Vampire Slayer” and “Firefly,” is particularly suited to “Much Ado About Nothing,” which Kenneth Branagh adapted in a 1993 film. Whedon can write some of the best banter around, so it’s not surprising he feels a connection to Shakespeare’s “merry war” of wit. It’s fitting, too, that the same man that made a ponytailed teenager a supernatural warrior delights in a play that mocks male fears of female sexuality.
The verbal duel of “Much Ado” pits the proud bachelor Benedick (Alexis Denisof) against the quick-tongued Beatrice (Amy Acker), as they sling clever put-downs back and forth, even as they’re drawn together by their scheming friends. Most of the cast (including, memorably, Nathan Fillion as the bumbling Constable Dogberry and Clark Gregg as the governor Leonato) are long-time Whedonites, veterans from his TV shows and films.
Rather than emphasize the Beatrice-Benedick sparring, Whedon’s faithfully-adapted “Much Ado” is an amiable ensemble that spills around the director’s spacious home. It’s a contemporary setting (a song sung in the play, for example, is played on an iPod), but most of the updating is minimal and consists of a whole lot of strewn-about wine glasses.
Fran Kranz plays the swooning Claudio, the suitor of Leonato’s daughter, Hero (Jillian Morgese), whose wedding is sabotaged by false rumors of Hero’s fidelity started by the villainous Don John (Sean Maher).
But the scenario somehow lacks the biting gender commentary of the play.
One would expect Whedon, given his knack for wordplay, to highlight the verbal joisting and really chew the play’s choice lines. But much of the acting doesn’t make the language pop, and the black-and-white photography bleaches the play of its snappiness.