MUCH ADO ABOUT NOTHING - In which Joss Whedon chills with some friends and does some Shakespeare (Review)

Much Ado About Nothing

Comedy, 2013
1 hour, 48 minutes
Adapted for the Screen and Directed by Joss Whedon
Rated PG-13 for some sexuality and brief drug use.

Starring
Amy Acker
Alexis Denisof
Fran Kranz
Reed Diamond
Nathan Fillon
Clark Gregg
Sean Maher
Jillian Morgese
Ashley Johnson


Joss Whedon is one cool dude. He can do pretty much anything. Not only did he write and direct Marvel's massive franchise conglomerate, but he also found the time to get a bunch of his friends together to make a movie at his own house. That movie he made with his friends also happened to be Shakespeare.
Much Ado surprisingly holds up for being a few hundred years old. Whedon's adaptation is fantastic. While it's occasionally slow, it's wonderfully witty and clever. I've tried Shakespeare before, but this one feels just so right. I hardly felt that lost in the thick Shakespearean dialogue.
The performances are great. Whedon basically looked through his lineup of regulars and made some great selections. And because of that, it has a very Joss Whedon feel to it, which is something that's always welcome.
It seems like Much Ado is going to be very under the radar, which is a shame. I'm not big on Shakespeare, but I really enjoyed this movie. For something that could've been another half-baked modern Shakespeare adaptation, it does a lot with it's small budget, and it's really impressive for something that was only filmed in a few days. Definitely worth checking out.

9/10