Much Ado About Nothing

Rating:
Summary: Timelessly delightful.
Review: These days in Hollywood, Shakespeare is the new Jane Austen. Watching Michelle Pfiefer or Ethan Hawke try to pull it off makes you appreciate what a genre it is unto itself. And how masterfully Kenneth Branagh and Emma Thompson glorify and make fun of it at the same time. This is the true spirit of Shakespearean comedy--spastically silly while deep and biting. I don't need to tell you that the script is great, but there are actors (and directors) who can make it harder to realize if you're not familiar with the bard. These two know it like their own souls--they were bred on it till you can't tell where it stops and they begin. Equally important is Branagh's knack for universalizing Shakespeare on film, in a way that no one without a firm foot in either field can pull off with the same success. This production emanates love: of Shakespeare, of what it's doing, and of course, the chemistry between the then real-life husband and wife Branagh and Thompson.

Rating:
Summary: One of my favorite films!
Review: Okay....what's wrong with it? Keanu Reeves. He's not built for Shakespeare. Everything else, though, I love about this film. It's lush, it's terribly funny, and sooooooo romantic. It's always a joy to see Shakespeare done in the RIGHT way...that is, no pomp, and by actors who can make the flowery script sound like a conversation between two contemporary friends. Very well done, and a pleasure to own.

Rating:
Summary: Much Ado! This is Something!
Review: This version of Shakespeare's masterful romance/comedy is entertainment at its highest level! The characters are delightfully portrayed by skilled actors that quickly draw you into the intimacy of their lives. You laugh, love, discover, feel, agonize, and sympathize with the main characters so much so that you feel a part of the powerful story. The seemingly difficult language of Shakespeare is spoken with such ease and natural human emotion that it translates into simple communication to the common viewer. It's a wonderful experience for the avid Shakespeare fan and a terrific place to start for newcommers to his fan club! The scenery is enchanting and the music is beautiful! This would be a huge hit for any romantic!

Rating:
Summary: Heaven on Film
Review: Whether you are a Shakespeare buff or have never read a single one of his plays, you will adore this gorgeous movie and entertaining interpretation of "Much Ado About Nothing". The location is breathtaking, the direction clear and good and the acting scrumptious. Well, maybe Robert Sean Leonard (as loveable, rash Claudio) and Keanu Reaves (as Don John, the Prince's bastard brother) were slightly miscast, but Emma Thompson, Denzel Washington and Kenneth Branagh more than make up for it in their charming performances. See this film as soon as you can- you will fall in love!

Rating:
Summary: Even Benedick & Beatrice Would Agree this is a Great Movie!
Review: I'm the first to admit that I'm not an expert on Shakespeare or his work.I can't tell you if Director/Actor, Kenneth Branagh has stayed true to the Bard's original text or themes. What I can tell you is that Branagh's version of "Much Ado About Nothing" is a light and enjoyable film that makes me smile, laugh and even sigh.The title pretty much says it all about the plot.There are two sets of couples who are in love.One couple (Claudio & Hero) has their love threatened by the nasty meddlings of others (more percisely the evil, Don John).The other couple (the battling Benedick & Beatrice)are brought together through the trickery of others, but their love is more threatened by their own personalties and neuroses (shades of Woody Allen!).Branagh's version of this simple plot is delightful.The actors for the most part show a good deal of chemistry together. This is especially true for Branagh and Actress, Emma Thompson (who eventually married and divorced in real life). Their fighting Benedick & Beatrice really hit a note of perfection.The play's hilarious insults easily flow from the lips of these two wonderful actors. Denzel Washington also does a fine job, as his sparkling personality comes out, in the role of the domineering, yet friendly Don Pedro.I know it's not to everyone's taste, but I cracked up at Michael Keaton's bizarre take on Constable Dogberry. It's rather interesting to see Beetlejuice doing Shakespeare with a touch of Monty Python thrown in.The only false note of the production is Keanu Reeves as the villainous, Don John.Why do producers and directors continue to put this guy in their movies? He has to be the most wooden actor in the universe!The film is also very beautiful to look at. It puts to good use it's Italian countryside locations and sets. The same can be said for the costumes (especially the masks worn in the party scenes).The DVD to this film has a good clear picture. The extras were a bit on the skimpy side with one very short 'making of feature' and a trailer.I highly recommend watching this movie with the DVD player's subtitle feature in the 'on' position to follow the wonderful text.For a fun evening of light entertainment, I highly recommend this version of "Much Ado About Nothing".

Rating:
Summary: "Featurette" not worth it
Review: This review pertains to this DVD, and not the movie itself. I LOVE this movie, and already have a copy on DVD. When I saw that it was being re-released with a featurette, I was anxious to buy it for the extra footage. The "featurette" is about 7 minutes long and is just a glorified trailer. It contains lots of movie clips and some interview material. The interview material focuses mostly on plot related topics and themes, and offers no insight into the making of the film or the beautiful location in Italy where it was shot. If you do not own this movie and are looking to buy it on DVD, I would recommend it. However, if you already own a copy of this movie on DVD and were thinking of buying this version for the featurette, don't waste your money.

Rating:
Summary: A good start to Shakespeare
Review: Much Ado About Nothing is the lightest, most benign Shakespeare play produced by Hollywood in the Bard's 1990s renaissance. Modern audiences will find this version to be enjoyable and entertaining, but lacking the weighty issues normally explored in his more serious works.

I am not exactly a connoisseur of Shakespeare's comedies, but a modern film version of one of his works is light-years ahead of the typical melodramas churned out by Hollywood. Even though this particular play is limited by its simplistic "black and white" morality, the characters are complex and the plots and sub-plots go in directions that are not always predictable.

This play presents many of the devices common throughout much of Shakespeare's lighter works: hidden identity, love triangles, deception, usurped titles, etc. Someone just beginning to tackle the Bard's canon could make no better choice than starting with this little tale. I find it a much more appropriate play for High School Freshman than the popular choice of Romeo and Juliet. Do we really want 13 year olds hearing that suicide is a way to show love?

Many people have problems with some of the cast in this production, and maybe this criticism is justified. I find it interesting, however, to see Shakespeare performed by a wide range of modern actors. This version gives us classically trained thespians, Hollywood movie stars, and whatever category best suits Keanu Reeves.

Rating:
Summary: Branagh's Best
Review: Obviously there are many reviews for this film -- I don't want to take up too much space - just want to say that this film demonstrated to me that Branagh is a true talent. Henry V and Hamlet are both failures in my opinion -- although both have wonderful aspects, Branagh overacts severely... however his ranting and raving work well in this fine rendition. Emma Thompson is absolutely wonderful as his foil. Denzel is quite good as well. The actress who plays Hero is beautiful, and acts reasonably well. The actor who plays Claudio is utterly forgettable -- he would do well playing the part of a woman. But the worst is Keanu Reeves. I can only guess that Branagh chose him to attract young girls to this movie, otherwise it makes no sense... he is such a sorry actor -- I earnestly believe that many people who have NEVER acted in their lives could do at least as well as Keanu in this role if not better. His performance is an embarassment, and he should leave the profession and do something more suitable to whatever talents he does have (except Bill and Ted's, he was great in that.) But I digress. Bottom line is that this is a wonderful film -- restored my faith in Branagh. He should do more light roles like this and stay away from Hamlet &c.

Rating:
Summary: Much ado about something
Review: This truly is great. Between the beautiful scenery, the wonderful reparte between Branagh and Thompson, and the beauty and acting of Beckinsale et al, I wholehweartedly recommend this production as a wonderful living breathing example of the wit, charm, and elegance of William Shakespeare.

Rating:
Summary: Fine addition to the canon
Review: Sigh no more, ladies, sigh no more. Men were deceivers ever;
One foot on sea, and one on shore, to one thing constant never.
So sigh not so, but let them go and be you blithe and bonny,
Converting all your sounds of woe into hey nonny nonny.

This little piece of iambic heptameter (seven beats instead of the usual five)--Shakespeare's version of "turn that frown upside down"--recurs throughout Kenneth Branagh's adaptation of Much Ado About Nothing. It begins the film--being read by Emma Thompson's Beatrice to the other characters--and afterwards is sung twice (to music by composer Patrick Doyle)--once solo, and at the end by a full chorus. Its simple statement summarizes the action within: there is a conflict after which forgiveness is given, leading to a happy ending.

Kenneth Branagh burst on the movie scene in 1989 with his action-packed Henry V. In 1991, he paid homage to Alfred Hitchcock and the film noir genre with Dead Again and he soon followed with Peter's Friends, a fine entry in the "old mates reunion" genre of The Big Chill and Return of the Seacaucus Seven. Then he returned to his "first love," Shakespeare.

Much Ado About Nothing is not the best adaptation of the play that I have seen (that has to go to the BBC version from 1984; the acting is perfect all around), but it is the one most focussed on bringing out the fun inherent within. Branagh as director does tend toward the overly dramatic (like the opening scene where the soldiers arrive), but seems to know when to tone things down for the quieter, more romantic scenes. His choice to film in Tuscany and use its wondrous landscape to full effect was ideal.

The Hollywood-based members of the cast are surprisingly good. Denzel Washington (Don Pedro) gives a natural line-reading that belies his lack of experience with the bard while accenting his natural ability. Branagh (Benedick) and then-wife Emma Thompson (Beatrice) are obviously comfortable with the language--respectful when the poetry calls for it and more natural when bantering or simply moving the plot along.

In fact, the only detriments to this film are Keanu Reeves' scowling turn as Don John and Robert Sean Leonard's overdone Claudio. Leonard is not bad, per se, he's just stage-acting on film--overemoting for the back row while in extreme close-up. Of Michael Keaton as Dogberry, I'll only say that I wonder if he thought he was in Much Ado About Beetlejuice. He's obviously trying very hard, but doesn't fit with the tone and seems as if he has walked in from a different film entirely.

Branagh differs from previous Shakespearean film actor/directors (like Laurence Olivier and Orson Welles) in that he presents the plays not as art but as mainstream entertainment. He believes that they should be appreciated by everyone, not just so-called scholars. He succeeds, mostly. His Much Ado About Nothing is by far the most accessible of his Shakespeare films and is a fine addition to the canon.