“The two weeks leading up to this past Saturday were pretty brutal for me. By the time that weekend finally rolled around, I was looking forward to enjoying the first bit of “”me time”” I’d had in a long overdue while. I didn’t wanna go anywhere or do anything other than plan myself on the couch and play WoW. However, Joss Whedon had a new movie opening that week. That would be the one exception I was willing to leave home for. The BFFF was even in town, and I told him if he wanted to hang, the movie was the only option. Good thing he’s a big Shakespeare buff who’s a bit of a Browncoat that I’ve been trying to turn into even more of a Whedon-ite.
I think I’ve had occassion to explain myself before, but I have a strange relationship with Shakespeare. Above all else, I respect the Bard. There’s no denying the impact his work has had on the literary world, and I do love his plays, when I can get into them. The problem for me is that my brain has trouble processing verse, so it tends to just shut off. It has to be presented just right for me to get it, or feature Leonardo Dicaprio so that I watch it over and over and eventually understand what’s going on. I absolutely adored Much Ado.
Yes, there were still some things that went over my head, or that my head didn’t even try and process. However, that almost didn’t matter. Things were presented in such a clear manner that I was certainly along for the ride. Much of the credit lies with our cast: Amy Acker and Alexis Denisoff in particular. They had so much expression and emotion in everything they did, that I knew exactly what they were trying to convey even when I didn’t understand all of the words in the order they were structured in those sentences.
Definitely the cast was the best part of it. There was a uniquely fun aspect of trying to identify all of the Whedon-ites. And as an Angel fan, there was something incredibly satisfying about Acker and Denisoff being paired together. It was like Wesley and Fred finally got to be together. (Sidebar: I do find it kinda interesting how Wesley went from being the doofiest character on Buffy to the most tragic character on Angel). Nathan Fillion stole every one of his scenes. I get the sense that he too struggles with Shakespeare, but it led to a quirky fun interpertation of his role. (Sidebar trivia: Right after the movie was announced, multiple actors and crew commented that the hardest part of the quick and secret shoot was keeping Fillion from tweeting about it.) And pairing him with Buffy’s Andrew/Cabin in the Wood’s Ron the Intern, Tom Lenk, was genius. Clark Gregg had his usual puckish charm that gave the movie a strong and favorable anchor. I also really loved Dollhouse/Cabin In the Woods’ Fran Kranz getting a meatier role than we’ve seen from him thus far.
Basically the whole thing felt like a nerdy party. The BFFF was laughing constantly (some of the humor was lost on me, but I could still appreciate a lot of it). And there was somebody in the back of the room with a loud laugh that REALLY enjoyed the film. Given all of the geeks I hang out with, this film has currently been my go-to recommendation. If only Shakespeare was always so fun.
Much Ado About Nothing – \m/ \m/ \m/ \m/