"We are the true love gods."

I have a serious, serious jones for Joss Whedon.  I also find Shakespeare pretty darn awesome, too.  So when I found out Whedon was adapting "Much Ado About Nothing" as a movie, I pretty much did a major happy dance.  And while it's taken a while for it to show up in my town (twelve thousand showings of Fast and Furious instead, BTW), I'm happy to say it was well worth it.

Let's face it, Shakespeare can be kind of difficult to interpret at times.  He was a chatty fellow, and could have done with a hobby, in my humble opinion.  So the language of his plays can be hard to follow, but credit Whedon for staging the movie in a way that helps to keep up with the action while not sacrificing the words.  The movie's intimate, as it takes place over what would seem to be no more than a week in one house (Whedon's house, actually, and I want it).  While the language is kept intact, everything else, from the costumes to the setting to the gadgets, is modern-day, which helps keep it fresh, which with this play is pretty important as it has a lot of absurdity to it.  They fake a girl's death to shame her would-be husband, for goodness' sakes.

(Speaking of which, what is it with the friars and their obsession with fake death in Shakespeare's plays?  Romeo and Juliet's friar comes up with the oh-so-bright idea to fake Juliet's death to get her out of marrying Paris.  Good call, padre.  And the friar in this one also comes up with the idea of Hero's death.  Yeah, Claudio was an idiot and treated her wrong, but jeez, talk about tough love.  Anyhoo...)

Whedon's always been good and finding the fine line between dramatic and absurd, and that continues in this.  There's lots of physical humor and visual gags that really help the story move along.  He also does a great job in incorporating the setting for maximum effect, whether it's humor, romance, or darama.

The cast includes many members of the Whedonverse, and they don't disappoint.  Amy Acker and Alexis Denisof bring the same chemistry they brought to "Angel" for Beatrice and Benedick, and the language just trips off their tongues.  Everyone else is also great, especially Clark Gregg and Reed Diamond.  But it's Nathan Fillion and Tom Lenk, in pretty small roles, that steal their scenes.  They have the idiotic thing down, and it's pretty wonderful to watch.

All in all, this was a great little film done with love, and a great palate cleanser for the bloat of the usual summer-film fare.