
Young lovers Hero (Kate Beckinsale) and Claudio (Robert Sean Leonard) are to be married in one week. To pass the time, they conspire with Don Pedro (Denzel Washington) to set a "lover's trap" for Benedick (Sir Kenneth Branagh), an arrogant confirmed bachelor, and Beatrice (Dame Emma Thompson), his favorite sparring partner. Meanwhile, the evil Don Jon (Keanu Reeves) conspires to break up the wedding by accusing Hero of infidelity. In the end, though, it all turns out to be "m... (Full plot summary below)
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Young lovers Hero (Kate Beckinsale) and Claudio (Robert Sean Leonard) are to be married in one week. To pass the time, they conspire with Don Pedro (Denzel Washington) to set a "lover's trap" for Benedick (Sir Kenneth Branagh), an arrogant confirmed bachelor, and Beatrice (Dame Emma Thompson), his favorite sparring partner. Meanwhile, the evil Don Jon (Keanu Reeves) conspires to break up the wedding by accusing Hero of infidelity. In the end, though, it all turns out to be "much ado about nothing".
Leave your thoughts about Much Ado About Nothing.
| New York Magazine (Vulture)David DenbyIt would be hard to imagine a moment when romantic passion seemed more desperate, more rapturous, more true. |
| The New York TimesA.O. ScottFrom 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. |
| Chicago Sun-TimesNell MinowJoss 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. |
| RogerEbert.comSheila O'MalleyWould the magic hold? The magic holds. It holds from beginning to end. |
| Los Angeles TimesKenneth TuranActors as well as athletes have a prime of life, a time when everything they touch seems a miracle. And the crowning pleasure of watching Emma Thompson and Kenneth Branagh in this rollicking version of Much Ado About Nothing is the way it allows us to share in that state of special grace, to watch the English-speaking world’s reigning acting couple perform at the top of their game. |
| New York Magazine (Vulture)David EdelsteinThe movie’s singular acting triumph is Nathan Fillion’s Constable Dogberry, one of Shakespeare’s simpler buffoons made poetic by understatement. Fillion speaks softly, with uninflected sincerity, a brilliant departure from the standard gregarious-hambone Dogberry. It’s his insularity — his imperviousness to the interjections of more observant people — that makes him such a touchingly credible clown. |
| Needcoffee.comWidgett WallsA fun adaptation of Shakespeare that only suffers from some unfortunate casting, especially with Keaton and Keanu. |
| New York PostLou LumenickThe first filmed Shakespeare comedy in decades that’s actually funny. |
| Chicago TribuneMichael PhillipsFinally! A romantic comedy that works. And not just because of Shakespeare. |
| Boston GlobeTy BurrJoss Whedon’s Much Ado About Nothing is just about the sloppiest Shakespeare ever put on the screen. It may also be the most exhilarating — a profound trifle that reminds you how close Shakespeare’s comedies verge on darkness before pirouetting back into the light. |