The Summer Shakespeare Movie Chat: Much Ado About Nothing

Much Ado About Nothing party over at Charlotte's place.  We are going to discuss different Shakespeare plays in film format due to a lack of living in areas without free Shakespeare in the Park. We have Shakespeare often ranging from free to extremely cheap here but I like to discuss. Much Ado is a terrific place to start too, it is unequivocally one of the most popular comedies.

First opinion right off the bat: this show is too funny to be in black and white. This version is trying to be artsy and the humor is lost. Okay, perhaps not lost entirely but certainly the black and while distracts. It just seems unnecessary. I'm not sure it serves the show. But Cari thinks it was a choice to expose the "black and white" opinions of the characters and if you want to go with that it makes the black and white easier to swallow.

Transposing Shakespeare. How original. Said no one ever. What makes Branagh's version SO strong is it isn't putting on airs or forcing situations that don't make sense. This doesn't necessarily make Whedon's version weak until you look at the basic plot of the entire story. Wishing Hero dead for not being a virgin makes sense in the Italian countryside. Less so in 2012. Especially in a world that talks about being virtuous an awful lot but in this version is pretty much all about the hookups.

Much Ado does lend itself well to transposition based on the majority of the script being in prose--therefore not every actor needs be Emma Thompson or Kenneth Branagh. Since so few are. The language didn't feel super forced out of any mouths, thank goodness. Little is as bad as badly spoken Shakespeare. Directors today are always looking for a way to make Shakespeare "more accessible" and I get that. At least, Whedon didn't try to modernize the language. Where 10 Things I Hate About You succeeded was that it was a somewhat vague adaptation with various Shakespearean references. I don't feel Whedon's version was inaccessible so mission accomplished there.

What the good year my lord, why are you thus out of measure sad? Conrad is a girl? I have a major personal life changing story that revolves around that line of Conrad's so it blew my mind when it came out of the mouth of Riki Lindhome. Nevermind the one role I know her from really was when she played a girl named Juliet on Gilmore Girls. But sure, make Don John and Conrade (because adding an e makes it feminine everyone knows that!) into a power seeking male and his female minion. Meh. Such a weak character anyhow that making her female just seemed odd.

The masquerade. Why are only half of them in masks? LOVE the "Sigh No More" around the piano as the soundtrack for the masquerade. THAT was one of those gems that makes adaptions worth it. What's with drunk Claudio in the pool and the alligator like stalking of Don John and crew? They must have liked the image as to make it the poster but it is strange.

Why is Margaret in a classic maid's uniform? Do people with maids really make them wear those? Was this a costume choice made to distinguish her character in a black and while world with little distinction elsewhere in costuming?

Benedick hiding behind a branch? Holy moly. Hilarious. Alexis Denisof was great on HIMYM. It's no wonder he can play comedic so well. That was a delightful gem.

Dogberry. Who doesn't love Dogberry and malapropisms? Though should we all call them Dogberryisms in all truthfulness because The Rivals wasn't written until much much later? Sorry for the tangent but it is a valid question. As it happens, Castle was fine but not as good as Michael Keaton. The flashlight bit was pretty good and the whole security team did commit to their roles.

Beatrice "If I were a Man" monologue was pretty darn strong here. I love me some Emma Thompson and when I first read Much Ado in ninth grade and then we watched the movie I pretty much wanted to be Emma Thompson as Beatrice. Back to my point here, Amy Acker is skilled with the language and while playing someone so iconic as Beatrice it would be a sad sad day to poorly cast her. Acker was just fine.

The Beatrice/Benedick struggling against each other when trying to get their love sonnets was great until they sank to the ground at the same time. You could see them thinking about how they were going to sit now and it ruined an otherwise lovely moment. I really respected the fact they were struggling and wound up intertwined into each other and just as I was about to say "good directing choice" I took it back.

My overall opinion is that Joss Whedon's version was not bad. I don't know that I'd run right out and buy it. (But since I have Netflix and Amazon Prime that would be stupid.) Of course I love the Branagh version more, but that version and I have a history and Branagh is pretty much a Shakespearean God, few in today's time can compare to him. So to put the two movies up against each other is like comparing beer to hard cider. Both have alcohol in them but they're uniquely different and it just depends what you're in the mood for.