Waste of time

A different way of telling a story

Instead, you get a movie that's enjoyable enough, but leaves you feeling like it could have been much, much more.

Each character in this movie — down to the smallest one — is an individual rather than a type, prone to spontaneous changes of mood and sometimes amusing outbursts of pettiness or ill humor.

Very beautiful production of "Much Ado About Nothing," primarily driven by: (1) Adherence to Shakespeare's original language, really well done. (2) Powerful acting, especially by the three key leads: Amy Acker as Beatrice, Alexis Denisof as Benedick, and Clark Gregg as Leonato. The "love, commitment, and confrontation scenes" in the second half of the play are among the most moving I have seen in a Shakespeare production. (3) Simplicity of the setting: to my understanding, Joss Whedon convened the cast and filmed in his home as a straightforward path to producing this play. Think of it as a group of friends coming over to Whedon's home for a reading of Shakespeare's play, and you will not be disappointed. The original language and simplicity of the setting focuses the audience's attention on the thoughts, emotions, and language. (4) The modern setting is a way to production expediency, while the preservation of the original language prevents it from being anachronistic. Believe the positive reviews; my wife and I were moved by this performance!

Updated to modern times but with all of Shakespeare's archaic (if poetic) dialogue intact, Joss Whedon's 'Much Ado About Nothing' is one of the strangest big screen Shakespeare adaptations to date. The film innovatively adds cars and iPhones to the tale, however, with dialogue and characters that differ so little from the way Shakespeare wrote them, the novelty value dries up rather quickly and what else the film has to offer is debatable. The black and white photography is sumptuous, but it does not exactly add a lot to the tale and the performances are hardly spectacular. Whedon does include some unique comedy touches of his own though; not all of them work (a pratfall down the stairs) but Alexis Denisof as Benedick showing off by doing one-armed push-ups and muscles flexes works well as a humorous extension of the character's sheer arrogance. There are also some subtle funny moments to be had in characters sprouting Shakespearean dialogue while sitting next to dollhouses and calling each other by titles such as 'prince' to adhere to the Bard's original dialogue. For a daringly different take on Shakespeare, the film is worth a look. One's mileage may vary though depending on how familiar one is with the source material and how much humour one finds the notion of modern day folks talking as if they are stuck in the sixteenth century.

Joss Whedon has taken off his brown coat and hung up his superhero costume for the time being to give us a laugh-out-loud and fresh telling of Shakespeare's 'Much Ado About Nothing'. With an amazing cast, comedy at every turn and an excellent eye for direction, Whedon pulls off this amazing tale with grace and fun. The movie's also different enough to stand on its own apart from Kenneth Branagh's version from twenty years ago. I imagine that fans of 'Firefly', 'Buffy' and 'The Avengers' will be first in line to support their hero, but I also expect this to gain a bigger following in the weeks to come.Whedon has set this classic comedic tale in the present day while still using Shakespeare's original language – similar to Baz Luhrmann's 'Romeo + Juliet'. It's great to see these historic characters live in the present with mobile technology, fancy cars and fun parties as this account of engineered love comes to fruition in a light-hearted and comedic light.Alexis Denisof (from 'Buffy' and 'Angel') plays the fumbling and charming bachelor Benedick, whose friends tell him that Beatrice (Amy Acker, also from 'Angel'), his friend with whom he spends a lot of time joking around, is actually deeply in love with him. The same is told to Beatrice separately, which leads the two characters to spy on one another in hopes of hearing the other confessing his or her love. This is all done in a slapstick manner that works on every level as the characters provide a bit of physical comedy in their quests.Claudio (Fran Kranz, 'Dollhouse') tries to impress the love of his life, Hero (Jillian Morgese, a bit player in 'The Avengers'), which brings about a few funny moments as well. Meanwhile, the villain Don John (Sean Maher, 'Firefly') plans to sabotage both relationships for his own enjoyment. He's not the smartest man, but he's very aware of what's happening around him, and Maher pulls off this character perfectly. Some of the biggest crowd reactions will come from Nathan Fillion ('Firefly') as Constable Dogberry. He and his idiotic deputies make mistakes and provide a treasure trove of physical comedy every time they appear on screen. Seeing Clark Gregg ('The Avengers') come down from his Agent Coulson role to play the fun part of Leonato getting drunk and dancing the night away is not something to be missed either.Whedon is a master with the camera, and this is actually one of his best photographed films. The angles and creative shots he uses all make sense to the story and are used for a precise purpose. It's a magical experience and I'd definitely love to see Whedon tackle other Shakespeare works. For someone who just made a $1 billion dollar superhero epic to follow that up with this artsy black-and-white movie based on one of Shakespeare's most beloved creations shows just how much range Whedon has and how successful he is as a storyteller and filmmaker.Not only will this version of 'Much Ado About Nothing' make you laugh and have a hugely entertaining time, it's also true to the original work. With amazing acting, a killer cast and stellar direction, this little gem is highly recommended.

I thought this was a freakishly pretentious effort from the guy who brought us Firefly (a pretty good show) , Angel (a middling show) and Buffy The Vampire Slayer (a not so great show). I always thought that Joss Whedon did work that was one part groundbreaking and one part Archie comic books. He pushed his work but also pushed his audience in ways that were sometimes like lepton erotica. As if being smart was just a rumor someone made up but nobody actually was. The school I went to as a teen forced Shakespeare on students which is too often the way people encounter it. Shakespeare is best taken in small doses and this film isn't a small dosage- its a walloping huge dosage of it done in such a way as to make Shakespeare look ridiculous. The Bard' work is 500 years old and sometimes reminiscent of older work like The Decamercon written in 1335 by Boccaccio which is often described as the first novel ever written. Anyone who dislikes Shakespeare is coyly labeled a low IQ moron but most of the people I've met who are into Shakespeare are basically just upper class snobs who wouldn't know talent from a hole in the ground. This film is basically a hole in the ground.