Butler's Cinema Scene

Alexis Denisof and Amy Acker as Benedict and Beatrice

“MUCH ADO ABOUT NOTHING”  My rating: B- (Now showing at the Glenwood Arts)

107 minutes | MPAA rating: PG-13

Making superhero movies with budgets bigger than the GNP of a Third World country is undoubted an amusing pastime.

But apparently after a while even a legendary geek-pleaser like Joss Whedon (TV’s ”Buffy,” the big screen’s “Avengers” and “Thor”) feels the need for a simple, uncomplicated palate cleanser.

Thus “Much Ado About Nothing” which is, of course, Shakespeare’s great comedy about a bickering duo who are cannily manipulated into each other’s arms by their amused friends and relations.

Twenty years ago Kenneth Branagh gave us a more-or-less definitive film version (inasmuch as any performance of Shakespeare can be definitive). Whedon’s isn’t that good, but it’ll do.

A recap for the Bard-deprived:  Don Pedro (Reed Diamond) returns victorious from war and decides to spend some time chilling out on the estate of Leonato (Clark Gregg). Accompanying him are his officers Benedick (Alexis Denisof) and Claudio (Fran Kranz), as well as Don Pedro’s rebellious brother  Don John (Sean Maher), who is their prisoner.

Claudio immediately falls for Leonato’s daughter Hero (Jillian Morgese) and a wedding is planned.

Meanwhile Benedict and Hero’s cousin Beatrice (Amy Acker) carry on a war of insults.  It’s pretty obvious to everyone but themselves that their verbal sparring is a form of foreplay, and before long there’s a conspiracy afoot to drive these “enemies” into each other’s arms.

There are complications…the scheming Don John tries to sink the Claudio/Hero nuptials by spreading a story that she’s no virgin.  His plot is undone, though, by the local constable Dogberry (Nathan Filian), a  bumbler who stumbles across the truth despite his ineptness.

Shot in crisp black and white (it is my belief that black-and-white cinematography actually amplifies the emotions of work while color tends to dilute them), this is a modern-dress rendition.

Nothing all that unusual in this. The Bard has been performed in Civil War uniforms and space suits… he’s highly adaptable.  But unlike the 2000 Ethan Hawke modern-dress “Hamlet,” in which the Danish court became the Wall Street “Elsinore Corporation” and the film a sly commentary on “killer” capitalism, there’s no compelling reason — except perhaps budgetary — to have this cast wear contemporary clothing.

Initially we wonder what sort of war Don Pedro has been of fighting.  Is he a Mafia don putting down a rival gang?  Does he lead a gang of corporate raiders who have just pulled off an unfriendly takeover?

Whedon doesn’t worry about such stuff. It’s enough that the guys wear suits and ties and that Leonato’s house is one of those California Spanish-modern mansions with tile roof, arched doorways and big uncluttered lawns. (There is one nice sight gag, when Benedict and Claudio find they’ve been billeted to a little girls’ room filled with stuffed animals and Barbie dolls.)

The performances range from terrific to so-so.  Among the former is Acker as Beatrice. This veteran of TV (“Alias,” Whedon’s “Dollhouse,” “Person of Interest” and the occasional movie like “Cabin in the Woods”) is bright, funny and combative without ever imperiling her femininity. But Acker also finds the vulnerability of a woman who realizes that she’s probably way too smart for the  available pool of bachelors.

Also very solid are Diamond, Gregg, and Kranz.

But I had problems with Denisof’s Benedict.  Denisof has a few nice moments of physical comedy, but I found him a bit too…well, thick-headed to be the romantic equal of Acker’s Beatrice.  We’re supposed to leave feeling that these two were made for each other, not that she could have done better.

The play’s finest comic creation is Dogberry, who in this rendition becomes Leonato’s head of security.  Fillian, a veteran of Whedon’s “Firefly” series, left me wanting more. Or, to be more precise, he left me thinking of Michael Keaton’s hysterically funny performance in the Branagh film.  That’s not right.

| Robert W. Butler