Leonato is to marry off his daughter Hero to Claudio while Benedick feuds with Beatrice, but Leonato and Claudio and Don Pedro conspire to bring Benedick and Beatrice together.  Meanwhile, Don John schemes to tear Hero and Claudio apart through lies.

Alexis Denisof (Benedick) and Amy Acker (Beatrice) sizzle with chemistry and they are the heart and soul of MUCH ADO ABOUT NOTHING in Joss Whedon’s black and white film adaptation of the William Shakespeare play.  Denisof and Acker manage to play drama and comedy sometimes within the same scene as they are big draw in this movie except they are out staged by Clark Gregg whenever he is in a scene.  Clark Gregg shows some real dramatic chops as Leonato while Nathan Fillion shows some comedic chops as dumb cop Dogberry.    Joss Whedon made MUCH ADO ABOUT NOTHING as a project of love shot in 12 days using his home as the location.  The cinematographer tried to shoot the movie like it was influenced by the French New Wave (cinema movement) when I oddly enough read a book recently about the films of Jean Luc Goddard (who was one of the father of the French New Wave).  MUCH ADO ABOUT NOTHING is full of various alumni from previous TV series or movies Joss Whedon has created and/ or directed.  The cast also includes Reed Diamond, Fran Kranz, Sean Maher, and Jillian Morgese.   If you’re a fan of William Shakespeare and/ or Joss Whedon, MUCH ADO ABOUT NOTHING is an enjoyable adaptation you should rent or buy.

SPECIAL FEATURES:

Extras are in black and white with two fetaurettes and a music video while there were two audio commentaries recorded for the movie (one with director Joss Whedon and the other with the cast and Joss Whedon).

MUCH ADO ABOUT MAKING NOTHING is a 22 minute making-of featurette that traces the origins of the movie back to the days when Whedon and the cast of Buffy started discussing and reading Shakespeare together round Buffy season 4 and he started staging productions at his house with various cast members and family of the cast during the years with cast from various shows Joss created.  Joss, producer Kai Cole, and the cast talk about the casting and how the atmosphere of the filming felt while sharing various stories about the making of the movie and deciding to go the film festival route for the movie.

BUS ADO ABOUT NOTHING- a chronicle about the bus and the goings-on with the tour bus that Joss and the cast took to SXSW Film Festival.

SIGH NO MORE music video

FINAL ANALYSIS:  MUCH ADO ABOUT NOTHING is a fun and delightful film adaptation of the Shakespeare play that fans of Shakespeare and Joss Whedon will enjoy.

This DVD review is (c)10-13-2013 David Blackwell and cannot be reprinted without permission.  Send all comments to feedback@enterline-media.com

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