Our guide selected this one and I agreed right up until I saw it again and decided that I wanted to watch the Branagh even more. So I’m going to do a double review here.
They are both fun and we have landed into the light fluffy Elizabethan plays with a light and fluffy plop.
The Whedon is famous for being filmed in 12 days as a sort of offshoot project after one of his Avengers films was wrapped. It was shot at his house with his friends and he and his family did the soundtrack.
I used to be a massive fan of Whedon. I’m the right age for OG Buffy (even the movie before the show) and the right type of consumer for Firefly and the Avengers, I even loved Dollhouse.
I remember being thrilled when this one came out because Whedon plus Shakespeare!
But then…
Per Wikipedia: In July 2020, Justice League actor Ray Fisher accused Whedon of showing "gross, abusive, unprofessional, and completely unacceptable" behavior toward the cast and crew of the film,[221] going so far as to invite Whedon to sue him for slander if he believed the allegations were untrue.[222]
And then: Jose Molina, a writer on Firefly, also spoke out against Whedon's behavior saying that "casually cruel" was a "perfect" description and that "He thought being mean was funny. Making female writers cry during a notes session was especially hysterical. He actually liked to boast about the time he made one writer cry twice in one meeting
And then the entire Charisma Carpenter thing.
It got to be too much. I couldn’t watch his stuff and not think about all of that. This is the first time I’ve watched this Much Ado since then and it’s downgraded the whole thing to 3.5 stars.
This isn’t entirely fair, nothing in the movie has changed.
I love the black and white, I love his character consolidation choices, I love the Beatrice and like the Benedict. I think the mafia spin is fun and love the small feel.
Special shout out to Fran Kranz’s Claudio who seemed just young enough and just dumb enough to remain likable despite his many dick moves.
I wish Whedon was a better person so that I could love his stuff wholeheartedly as I once did.
On to the Branagh.
Let me say here that I love Keanu Reeves. I love him and I feel like he was acting in an entirely different movie from the whole rest of the cast here.
BUT beyond that weirdness, this is a wonderful version. There is so much life and energy and lightness in this film that I can, easily, have it on as soothing cheering background for my life.
Emma Thompson is radiant as Beatrice and Branagh the perfect witty ass that Benedict needs.
Makes me want to watch Dead Again.
I think nearly every performance is perfect. This is how light fluffy Elizabethan should be.
A special aside for the Keaton/Fillion Dogberry parts. The clown-show that the constable storyline requires is so far outside of the mood of the rest of the play that it could feel like a failing or at least a pitfall. I’ve never seen it played as anything other than slapstick. I don’t think it could work any other way.
Keaton can be so super schtick and Fillion so thick that they just breeze through it. In both movies I have my favorites for every part, but not for Dogberry. They are both just great!
Much Ado About Nothing - 4.5 stars
Mom score - 0 no moms
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