Much Ado About Nothing Reviews
Top CriticMuch Ado About Nothing is a delightfully spirited romp, filled with visual splendor, strong performances and flashes of post-modern absurdity.
The movie swings along, with a grace denied to some of Whedon's grander projects ...
This fast and loose independent production is enjoyable as a home movie, but not much more.
A delightful mix of the modern and the Elizabethan, a sort of do-it-yourself re-imagination of a true comic classic.
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| Original Score: B+
There's no fire, and where their lines should ricochet with wit, they just spill forth, affably.
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| Original Score: 2.5/4
Whedon finds unexpected meaning in this famously saucy "skirmish of wit," the opposites-attract story upon which myriad modern-day rom-coms have sprung.
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| Original Score: 3/4
No matter what movie or television show he is making, Whedon is a master of wit, of clever wordplay that doesn't just entertain but crackles with knowing energy.
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| Original Score: 4/5
Though Whedon's trimmed the play down, to make it an appropriate movie length, he's kept the dialogue intact, and the pleasure the cast gets in saying the lines is palpable.
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| Original Score: 3.5/4
Much Ado About Nothing couldn't look more different than Branagh's traditional version, and yet its big-hearted spirit is equal to the task of celebrating a classic while highlighting the reasons to remake it.
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| Original Score: 3.5/4
Won't please every fan of the Bard (or "Buffy the Vampire Slayer"), but ... could inspire a debate as lively as the play itself.
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| Original Score: 2.5/4
It's like watching a gang of talented people put on a show in a friend's back yard. Which it is, actually.
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| Original Score: 3/4
Joss Whedon's take on Shakespeare's classic tale is swanky, sexy and sophisticated, as bracing as a dry martini poured from a silver shaker on a summer night.
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| Original Score: 4/4
The most interesting aspect of Much Ado about Nothing is that it illustrates Whedon's ability to make a movie that relies exclusively on performances and dialogue.
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| Original Score: 3/4
Whedon's Ado is a parlour version of the play, shot in black and white, with documentary intimacy.
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| Original Score: 3/4
Everyone acquits him or herself charmingly, and with a deep appreciation for why Shakespeare travels well, and in defiance of those who would dismiss him as dusty. The fact is, he's writing about us. It's as simple as that, and Whedon well knows it.
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| Original Score: 3.5/4
I enjoyed Whedon's film both as a species of stunt and also as a legitimately entertaining entry in the voluminous Shakespeare adaptation sweepstakes.
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| Original Score: B+
It's a slight but smart, sweet but guiltless celebration. Kind of like what making it must have been for a director exhausted from months of wrangling a herd of superheroes.
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| Original Score: 3/4
This Much Ado About Nothing-while perhaps not an adaptation for the ages in every respect-is as bracingly effervescent as picnic champagne.
Joss Whedon's "Much Ado About Nothing" is both a palate cleanser for the director and a small but savory treat for Shakespeare-starved audiences.
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| Original Score: 3.5/5
It definitely possesses that Whedon-esque nerdy energy, fizzing with humor, eroticism, booze and more than a hint of danger.
The joyous spirit of the play has been preserved in this modest, homegrown production.
Whedon, without skimping on the tale's tragic undercurrents, has crafted an irresistible blend of mirth and malice.
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| Original Score: 3/4
A host of Whedon veterans puts on one of the funniest Shakespeare films in ages.
"Much Ado About Nothing" is an absolute delight, as merry as the day is long.
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| Original Score: 4/5
Joss Whedon's fresh and cheeky adaptation of "Much Ado About Nothing" is a minor miracle - the first filmed Shakespeare comedy in decades that's actually funny.
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| Original Score: 3.5/4
From its very first scenes, Mr. Whedon's film crackles with a busy, slightly wayward energy that recalls the classic romantic sparring of the studio era.
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| Original Score: 5/5
Moviegoers will likely have few better options this summer for a good romantic comedy.
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| Original Score: 2.5/4
A slick, postmodern "Much Ado" that delights so much it's very nearly as you like it.
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| Original Score: 3.5/4
The film isn't as fast and funny as it could be, although Nathan Fillion's easily offended constable injects some sorely needed comic relief. Still, give Whedon credit for trying to expose his Comic-Con fan base to a different kind of Hero.
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| Original Score: B
With its interrogations of gender, feminism, and marriage, Shakespeare's comedy is an apt vehicle for Whedon's own storytelling agenda.
While Acker successfully portrays a woman too smart and too strong to be shoved to the altar, Denisof never matches her fire. Without a Benedick that is up to her level, the inequity between the leads sinks the movie.
I'd be pressed to imagine a more sure-footed Much Ado. When Shakespeare's done right, you can't imagine him ever being done wrong. The clarity is blinding.
A project this simple would be nowhere without the actors, and Whedon gets fine work out of just about everybody.
