Much Ado About Nothing: AKA: Joss Whedon a Man of Many Talents

So today, Joss Whedon's adaptation of Shakespeare's Much Ado About Nothing goes nation wide. If you haven't seen it, yet go. Go NOW!

Joss' adaptation of this classic play is everything it should be. Shot in black and white and in 12 days at his own home, it is obvious that Much Ado About Nothing, was truly a labor of love for  the director.  It is like a giant Whedon-verse party, where he called up all of his friends from previous projects and was just like "Hey come be in a movie! Oh, and we need extras so everyone bring five friends with them okay?"

Aside from one small word change, they production keeps to the original text, and though it may take your brain a moment to comprehend the language, with in moments everything becomes clear. The slapstick and sight gags thrown in are not only funny but smart. In a world where scripts of tv shows, movies and even theatre are dumbing themselves down to the most basic levels, its nice to see a movie where the audience is believed to be able to understand without everything being spelled out. There's a reason why the works of William Shakespeare are considered classics, they are open to many different interpretations.

The cast is fantastic, and completely believable, never letting the complexity of the language seem awkward. While I do admit I was a bit saddened when I found out that Anthony Stewart Head was originally supposed to play Leonato, but had to drop out due to scheduling conflict with that awful pilot , Free Agents, the moment Clark Gregg appeared on screen, any thoughts of anyone else in the role immediately banished. Once again Amy Acker and Alexis Denisof have brilliant chemistry, this time as Beatrice and Benedick. Sean Maher makes for a deliciously evil Don John, and I can officially say I have never loved Reed Diamond more than as Don Pedro.

It's no secret how much I love Joss Whedon's work, I have on multiple occasions on this very blog proclaimed him as my hero. I mean we are talking about a man who after being praised for writing amazing dialogue, decides to write an episode of his popular tv show with almost no dialogue at all, just to prove he could do it. Then it went on to become the only episode of the series to be nominated for an Emmy.  So I suppose you can assume a slight bias in my liking of his work. Still though I can not stress enough, how much you should go and see this movie.