Inclubabu Plot so thin, it passes unnoticed.

Glucedee It's hard to see any effort in the film. There's no comedy to speak of, no real drama and, worst of all.

Ella-May O'Brien Each character in this movie — down to the smallest one — is an individual rather than a type, prone to spontaneous changes of mood and sometimes amusing outbursts of pettiness or ill humor.

Billy Ollie Through painfully honest and emotional moments, the movie becomes irresistibly relatable

Charles Herold (cherold) I notice a lot of the most negative reviews of this movie are from hardcore Shakespeare buffs, so I'll start by noting that I am not one of those. Shakespeare is challenging to understand and this particularly play has some serious issues with it, and I watch Shakespeare adaptations in part just to see how people repackage the Bard and try to deal with the complexity of the language. So for me, a black and white, modernized version of Much Ado About Nothing with a millennial vibe is appealing.The movie does a good job with the dialogue, with actors speaking in a reasonably conversational tone that avoids "I AM ACTING Shakespeare" pitfalls. The cast is uniformly excellent, but I found Amy Ackerling and Nathan Fillion particularly effective. And while, as usual, I sometimes lost the thread of individual sentences, overall it's a very witty play, even if it has a plot that was probably absurd even at the time.I will say that overall I'd give the edge the Kenneth Branaugh Emma Thompson movie version. As likable as the cast in this one is, the talent of the leads in the earlier version has an electrifying quality lacking here. But it's definitely worth watching.

fallonfantriple7 Hark! Here sits a film of excellent repute, and very well deserved. This movie is literally perfect. Shakespeare+Joss Whedon=genius. Joss Whedon reads so much into the words, and manages to make every line and every character in the story count. And they do. Every actor gives an amazing performance, but Alexis Denisof and Clark Gregg are the superstars of the film. Both bring so much talent and humor to their respective roles and deliver the lines perfectly. Amy Acker is brilliant as well and her speech following the wedding in the film is one of the highlights. The black and white cinematography as well as the brilliant lighting make the film appear timeless and yet very modern. Everything works so well. Perfect Shakespeare.

suite92 The film was shot in Santa Monica (Los Angeles County, CA, US), in modern dress, with computers, pistols, automobiles, and live cell phone video.Leonato, the governor of Messina, welcomes back Don Pedro and his comrades, Benedick and Claudio, from a successful campaign, and hosts them for a time. Claudio and Leonato's daughter Hero take a liking to one another quickly. Benedick and Leonato's niece Beatrice take a dislike to one another and argue heatedly.Claudio and Hero's marriage is arranged quickly, while friends decide to deceive Benedick and Beatrice into thinking that each is in love with the other. Don Pedro's brother Don John arranges for Borachio and Conrade to bear false witness that Hero was untrue to Claudio. The marriage is stopped during the ceremony. Hero is rejected as an adulteress by her prospective groom, by her father, and by Don Pedro. Beatrice does not believe it. The priest at the ceremony counsels cooling down and investigating.Since this is a comedy, one knows that most of the issues will be resolved with a good dose of wit.-----Scores-----Cinematography: 8/10 Greyscale (the vast majority of pixels are neither black nor white) is not my favourite, and never will be. Despite that, most of this film is beautifully shot; I took off 2 points for camera shake.Sound: 7/10 There is a whole lot of mumbling going on. I was hoping for crisply spoken and perfectly miked dialog.Acting: 7/10 Amy Acker, Sean Maher, Clark Gregg, and Reed Diamond were delightful. I expected a bit more from some of the other actors.Screenplay: 9/10 The modern visuals with a dose of modern musical instruments coupled with the original text was an interesting mix. Perhaps this is not for everyone, but I liked it.

cats333 Seriously one of the best Shakespearean productions I've ever seen. American accents sounded strange at first, but then turned comfortable. The music was beautiful and the direction (both by Joss Whedon) was brilliant. Whedon is very loyal to the actors he works with so if you have seen any of his other stuff you will recognize several. Clark Gregg (Leonato)from The Avengers continues to impress me, but my favorites were Nathan Fillion (Dogberry "I am an ass.") and Tom Lenk (Dogberry's partner Verges.)OK. I admit to being a huge Whedon fan, which means I'm biased to begin with, but I loved this adaptation. I did start with a 10 out of 10 score, but then dropped it to a 9 only because nothing is perfect. While I do understand how some reviewers are panning this version by comparing it to the 1993 Branagh version (also brilliant) I would remind potential viewers that 10 years have passed between the making of these two movies and that Whedon and Branagh's vision/interpretation/direction is very different. Both are worth the viewing; this one just happens to be my favorite.