Romancefest 2016: Much Ado About Nothing

I know I'm supposed to be into Joss Whedon because a bunch of my friends are and I respect their opinions. But I tried to watch BUFFY and there was an episode where a guy was dressed up as the Internet and I was like, "Not for me?"

He directed a black and white contemporary version of MUCH ADO ABOUT NOTHING back in 2012 and I actually wanted to see it. I remembered liking the Kenneth Branagh version when I was a kid (naked people ftw) and I also tend to like Shakespeare in general (high school Thespian Club ftw) and that show FIREFLY was pretty good and the first AVENGERS movie was cool so why not?

Then I was a victim of my own filmgoing. I saw the goddamn trailer so many times at Cinema 21 that by the time the movie came out I was like, "I get it. Joss Whedon. Black and white. MUCH ADO." Then I'd roll my eyes really hard and think, "I hope everyone in this theater can sense how over this trailer I am."

So I didn't go. And then I didn't watch it on Netflix. And then Romancefest 2016 came along and MUCH ADO popped up on a list of great romantic comedies so I was sucked back in. I'm sure you care.

MUCH ADO is the totally non contemporary tale of love and mixups, featuring Alexis Denisof as a dude who shuns marriage and Amy Acker as a chick who is so cranky she'll never get married. So of course they'll end up together. Meanwhile there's Fran Kranz as a dude who totally wants to marry Jillian Orgese, as a chick who totally wants to marry Fran Kranz. So of course they'll end up together.

The plot involves a celebration as soldiers return from battle, the couples getting together, splitting up, getting back together again, people conspiring to fuck up each other's relationships and/or conspiring to hook people up, and also Nathan Fillion is there as a bumbling cop and, as usual, is the best thing in the project.

So, artistically, what does Whedon bring to the table that others have not? Well, first it's in black and white. Which is usually cool and it is almost cool here but it ends up just being okay. Because for some reason the black and white seems kinda flat. It almost looks like someone shot the movie in color and just flipped the black and white switch and called it good. I'm not saying that's what happened because that would be crazy, but that's kind of how it looks. So, it's all right, but not awesome.

The second thing is that it takes place in a contemporary looking cool house with contemporary looking cool people, which is fine except then it gets weird when Whedon favorite Clark Gregg is freaking out that his daughter isn't a virgin and saying he'd rather she was dead and stuff like that. I mean some people probably act like this in contemporary times but not rich Hollywood hills types, I don't think.

But, you can forgive that stuff because you go into the theater knowing it's Shakespeare in a contemporary setting. It's still noticeable, but you can forgive it.

Probably the best thing in the movie is the lead couple, Alexis Denisof and Amy Acker as a couple of "Fuck marriage!" types who end up falling in love. So, while most of the movie is kinda forgettable at least the central part is good.