I Ado

I like William Shakespeare, and plan on one day getting around to reading (or seeing performed, or both) every one of his plays. At the moment, however, I've been hovering somewhere around half. Probably the most famous of his plays I didn't know anything about was Much Ado About Nothing. I decided give Kenneth Branagh's 1993 film incarnation a try.

I really like Branagh overall. Though my opinion of his Henry V was lukewarm, it didn't dull my interest in seeing his other takes on Shakespeare. I thought this might be a particularly interesting one to watch, as I didn't know the play.

As writer and director, Branagh delivers an exceptional adaptation. I can virtually guarantee you the original play itself could never be performed in under two hours, but this film comes in with 10 minutes to spare and with a few long cinematic sequences that unfold without dialogue. Whatever cuts may have been made don't leave any perceptible trace, however. The movie is brisk and fun.

And incredibly coherent. This is as much as testament to the actors as the director, of course. The 400-year-old language of the Bard can be quite difficult to penetrate in the mouths of less able actors. (And there is one in this film. I'm looking at you, Keanu Reeves.) But this cast is bursting at the seams with talented people who make the poetry seem effortless, natural, and completely understandable.

There's Branagh himself, his then-wife Emma Thomspon, and Denzel Washington anchoring the most prominent roles. Michael Keaton does a hilarious turn as the "fool" of the piece, perhaps channeling his own Beetlejuice a bit too much, but eliciting laughs all the same. Robert Sean Leonard and Kate Beckinsale are solid as the young lovers of the piece.

But, as usual, there are some elements of Shakespeare that just can't quite overcome four centuries of passing time. Many say his themes are timeless, but be that as it may, the specific events often come off dated. The key antiquated notion you have to swallow in this tale is that, after her fiance spurns her at the altar in a near-violent fashion, that a woman's only desire would be to find a way to set it all straight and go on with the wedding. And that her fiercely protective father is completely on board with this.

There are also a few elements common to other Shakespearean stories that don't come off quite as well here as they do in those other plays. For example, there's a bastard son determined to see his legitimate brother go down in disgrace, realized better in King Lear. There's a fiery-tempered woman at odds with a man she ends up falling in love with, realized better in The Taming of the Shrew.

But overall, there's a lot to like here. It's an entertaining story, and a very well-realized adaptation of it. I rate it a B.