News for today's 2018

The To Do List: Better left undone

1:00 AM Tukiyooo 0

<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #5e5e5e; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #5e5e5e; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #5e5e5e; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #5e5e5e; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #5e5e5e; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18px;"><b><i>The To Do List</i> </b></span></span></span></span></span></span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #5e5e5e; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18px;"><b>(2013) • <a href="http://trailers.apple.com/trailers/independent/thetodolist/" style="color: #27a9c5; text-decoration: none;">View trailer</a></b></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #5e5e5e; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #5e5e5e; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #5e5e5e; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #5e5e5e; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18px;"><b> </b></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #5e5e5e; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18px;"><br /></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #5e5e5e; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18px;"><b>2.5 stars. Rating: R, for pervasive strong crude and sexual content, graphic dialogue, drug and alcohol use, and constant profanity, all involving teens</b></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #5e5e5e; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18px;"><br /></span></span></span></span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #5e5e5e; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18px;"><b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-weight: normal;"><b>By <a href="http://www.blogger.com/profile/12885694730612878577" style="color: #27a9c5; text-decoration: none;">Derrick Bang</a></b></span></b></span></span></span></span></span><br /><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>            <br /><div class="MsoNormalCxSpFirst"><span style="font-weight: normal;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Back in the day, youthful sexual explorations followed a common sports metaphor, starting with reaching first base and concluding with the obvious home run.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle"><span style="font-weight: normal;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">My, how things have changed.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle"><br /></div><table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiiXOQCxlSEPeDXh3UBot7qtuoSkJbhUB9cKdzywuSS67X7qBNzjkhgXl-MrTe7Wx07btvNu31PE_AmmI86O69LqQf1kK-4VDkZn2N4CavJk3R7g1Eue5Aov27jvcW3cpx15LVMN1KitRs/s1600/To+Do+List+blog.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="292" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiiXOQCxlSEPeDXh3UBot7qtuoSkJbhUB9cKdzywuSS67X7qBNzjkhgXl-MrTe7Wx07btvNu31PE_AmmI86O69LqQf1kK-4VDkZn2N4CavJk3R7g1Eue5Aov27jvcW3cpx15LVMN1KitRs/s400/To+Do+List+blog.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: xx-small;">At first, Fiona (Alia Shawkat, right) shares good friend Brandy's (Aubrey Plaza) elation<br />over the progress being made on her summer list of planned sexual accomplishments.<br />But like the so-called comedy in this film, Brandy eventually takes things too far, at<br />which point Fiona demonstrates that while she might talk the talk, she apparently<br />doesn't think much of people who walk the walk.</span></td></tr></tbody></table><div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle"><span style="font-weight: normal;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">In these sexually liberated and quite raunchy days of the 21st century, that simple baseball metaphor has blossomed into the complexity of a 22-level video game. Libido-driven folks keeping score begin with quaint French kisses and hickies, progress through once-unspoken acts such as motorboating and teabagging, and ultimately, ah, climax with the horizontal bop itself.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle"><span style="font-weight: normal;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">At least, that’s what writer/director Maggie Carey would have us believe, with her smutty teen sex comedy, <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">The To Do List</i>.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle"><span style="font-weight: normal;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Sadly, this new film is neither as witty nor as memorable as 2010’s <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Easy A</i>, which made a star of Emma Stone, and to which <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">The To Do List</i> inevitably will be compared. While this new film’s star — the richly talented and still under-appreciated Aubrey Plaza — deserves a similar breakout hit, she won’t get it here. Carey’s film is too uneven, too clumsy and (to its detriment) too reflexively coarse, in the manner of various Judd Apatow or Farrelly brothers guys-behaving-badly yock-fests.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle"><span style="font-weight: normal;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Ironically, Carey’s biggest problem is that she doesn’t have the courage to pursue her genre convictions. Her script is plenty dirty, but only at a potty-mouth level the Three Stooges would appreciate. She never achieves genuine heat or eroticism, and too many of Plaza’s fellow cast members work beneath their talents, their line readings stiff, unpersuasive and motivated more by writer’s fiat than narrative rational.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle"><span style="font-weight: normal;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">We should perhaps ask the basic question: Is this film intended to be genuinely sexy, or merely filthy? Because if the former was Carey’s intention, to <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">any</i>degree, she fouled out before reaching first base.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle"><span style="font-weight: normal;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Her story is set in 1993, apparently to avoid granting its characters any exposure to the Internet porn that has become readily available since then. We meet the over-achieving Brandy Klark (Plaza) as she graduates from high school and gives a roundly jeered valedictory speech. Whatever her academic accomplishments, she has become infamous as both a teacher’s pet and a virgin, the latter epithet apparently far more heinous than the former.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle"><span style="font-weight: normal;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Despite being a social pariah, Brandy has two gal pals — Fiona (Alia Shawkat) and Wendy (Sarah Steele) — who like her but agree that she could, well, loosen up a bit. To hear Fiona and Wendy talk, they’ve either performed or contemplated every act once relegated to the <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Kama Sutra</i> or Dr. David Reuben’s <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Everything You Always Wanted to Know About Sex (But Were Afraid to Ask)</i>. <o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle"><br /></div><a name='more'></a><br />  <div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle"><span style="font-weight: normal;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">One suspects this may be nothing <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">but</i> talk; indeed, a third-act crisis results when Fiona and Wendy realize that Brandy has taken them word for debased word. But if this means Fiona and Wendy didn’t really <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">mean</i> anything of what they suggested ... well, Carey never makes that distinction. To her story’s detriment.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle"><span style="font-weight: normal;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Anyway, taking her cue from her friends’ encouragement, Brandy decides that — before entering college in September, as a freshman — she really must become more, ah, experienced.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle"><span style="font-weight: normal;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">She receives help — in terms of establishing the all-essential, 22-point “to do” list of desired “skills” — from her contemptuous older sister, Amber (Rachel Bilson). Big sis is a foul-mouthed, full-time slut who’s a profound disappointment to their father (Clark Gregg), a local judge — nothing is made of this profession, beyond its mere mention — who displays the puritanical censure, in all matters sexual, of a chaste nun.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle"><span style="font-weight: normal;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">On the other hand, Mrs. Klark (Connie Britton) is much more hip, and her unexpected candor prompts quite a few giggles, thanks to the juxtaposition between Britton’s cheerful, Mom-type calm, and the explicitness of her parental advice.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle"><span style="font-weight: normal;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Although objectively willing to discover and embrace her bad self, Brandy doesn’t develop genuine passion for this challenge until bumping into hunky Rusty Waters (Scott Porter). Thanks to a summer job as lifeguard at the local public pool, Brandy is granted constant exposure to Rusty’s constantly exposed bod: a delectable potential “partner” for the final line-item on her list.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle"><span style="font-weight: normal;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">As is typical of such stories, the poster-perfect Rusty out-classes poor Cameron (Johnny Simmons), the longtime friend Brandy always has treated as a platonic buddy, having failed to notice that he has worshipped her from afar, lo these many years.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle"><span style="font-weight: normal;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The final key ingredient in this hormonal bouillabaisse is Willy (Bill Hader), an older slacker who manages the aforementioned pool (and whose character therefore is a close cousin to the role Sam Rockwell plays in <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">The Way, Way Back</i>). Hader is the one actor who matches Plaza’s comic timing, and occasionally tops it; he’s <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">hilarious</i>.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle"><span style="font-weight: normal;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">He’s funny because Willy occupies a slightly sideways portion of Brandy’s summer hijinks, and has almost nothing to do with her vice-laden mission. In other words, he’s a reasonably credible character, rather than a one-dimensional walking libido.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle"><span style="font-weight: normal;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Shawkat and Steele make a good double act: The former has a naughty, scheming air that makes Fiona look capable of just about anything, while Steele’s Wendy seems sweet and angelic until she opens her mouth and uncorks another unexpectedly earthy observation.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle"><span style="font-weight: normal;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Bilson overplays the potty-mouthed shrike card, her rendering of Amber too one-dimensionally shrill, and the usually memorable Christopher Mintz-Plasse is wasted in a throwaway part as Duffy, Cameron’s best friend. As for Cameron himself, Simmons has some choice moments as the eternally frustrated “good guy” who wants to be noticed for all the right reasons.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle"><span style="font-weight: normal;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Like Apatow and the Farrelly boys, Carey frequently elicits groans for the display of taboo bodily fluids, particularly those leaking or expelled at inopportune moments. Such moments may register on the funny-because-they’re-gross meter, but Carey gets better-deserved laughs at other moments; many involve Hader, and a few concern some of the wide-eyed adolescents who populate the public pool, and can’t <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">believe</i> the great stuff they’re hearing and seeing during this particular summer.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle"><span style="font-weight: normal;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">But as Brandy drinks and debauches her way through the summer months, initially apprehensively but with increased enthusiasm, she quickly develops an entirely different sort of bad reputation, this time among the people who mean the most to her.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle"><span style="font-weight: normal;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">And that’s a problem: not so much within this story’s thin framework, but in terms of the unbalanced tone Carey takes. After encouraging her protagonist to yield to every sexual temptation for nearly 90 minutes, often in slapstick fashion, Carey clumsily inserts a heavy-handed, real-world “lesson” that sounds like it was scripted by the Moral Majority. Apparently, this little sermon is intended to compensate for everything that has gone before, and demonstrate that Brandy has Learned An Important Lesson. <o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle"><span style="font-weight: normal;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">It doesn’t work, and not only because Plaza, despite her comic timing, can’t make her eleventh-hour “purity diatribe” sound the slightest bit genuine. No, the major hiccup is that all these characters have been little more than sex-crazed cartoons up to this point, and Carey suddenly wants us to “feel” for them as real people.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-weight: normal;">Tilt</span></i><span style="font-weight: normal;">.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle"><span style="font-weight: normal;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Doesn’t work that way. If Carey wants that sort of ethical reckoning, she needs to better layer Brandy, her friends and family from the get-go. As it stands, this film’s conclusion feels like a cheat, or a take-back: much like a career Catholic sinner who “recants” everything in Confession, and walks away with a Get-Out-of-Hell-Free card. <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Phooey</i>.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle"><span style="font-weight: normal;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Carey comes to us from TV work, most notably <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Funny or Die Presents</i>; <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">The To Do List</i> is her debut big-screen feature. Like Nat Faxon and Jim Rash’s <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">The Way, Way Back</i>, Carey’s script wound up on Hollywood’s annual “Black List” of the industry’s best unproduced screenplays, a few years back. Carey had written the script with New York City improv troupe colleague Plaza in mind, and the rising actress joined a staged reading at the 2010 Austin Film Festival.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle"><span style="font-weight: normal;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">That audience loved it; flash-forward a bit, to this big-screen disappointment. Let’s just say that Carey didn’t make the most of her moment, the way Faxon and Rash did.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle"><span style="font-weight: normal;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I’ve long noticed that title credits often indicate the quality of what follows: the more clever the credits — and <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">The To Do List</i> has the best I’ve seen for awhile — the better the film. Alas, my little handicapper let me down this time; aside from genuine chuckles here and there, the credits are the best part of Carey’s movie.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle"><br /></div><span style="font-size: 12pt;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Which can only leave us unfulfilled, regardless of the scoring system employed.</span></span>

The To Do List (2013) • View trailer 2.5 stars. Rating: R, for pervasive strong crude and sexual content, graphic dialogue, drug and al...

Much Ado About Nothing: A droll something

6:00 PM Tukiyooo 0

<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #5e5e5e; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #5e5e5e; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #5e5e5e; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #5e5e5e; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #5e5e5e; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18px;"><b><i>Much Ado About Nothing</i> </b></span></span></span></span></span></span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #5e5e5e; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18px;"><b>(2012) • <a href="http://trailers.apple.com/trailers/independent/muchadoaboutnothing/" style="color: #27a9c5; text-decoration: none;">View trailer</a></b></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #5e5e5e; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #5e5e5e; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #5e5e5e; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #5e5e5e; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18px;"><b> </b></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #5e5e5e; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18px;"><br /></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #5e5e5e; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18px;"><b>3.5 stars. Rating: PG-13, for sensuality, subtle sexual candor and fleeting drug use</b></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #5e5e5e; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18px;"><br /></span></span></span></span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #5e5e5e; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18px;"><b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-weight: normal;"><b>By <a href="http://www.blogger.com/profile/12885694730612878577" style="color: #27a9c5; text-decoration: none;">Derrick Bang</a> • </b></span>Originally published in <i><a href="http://www.davisenterprise.com/" style="color: #27a9c5; text-decoration: none;">The Davis Enterprise</a></i>, 6.21.13</b></span></span></span></span></span><br /><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>            <br /><div class="MsoNormalCxSpFirst"><span style="font-weight: normal;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Fred and Wesley finally got back together, which is pretty cool.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle"><span style="font-weight: normal;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">And while the circumstances are rather unusual, they’re no less delightful.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle"><br /></div><table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi49cn4JE4y8y6Ud7dL7qqadJa-nkkRqKxBQh25KU0IAlYcs-9ffztoXVCbv8OmVAYnFGWAVZexjob9xy9jCnhO_dx-J4m5qEEjM6LeXKOeF6azN3qY5PfdtMMcb7yZOAZ2zg47kZ_9zPs/s1600/Much+Ado+About+Nothing+blog.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="266" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi49cn4JE4y8y6Ud7dL7qqadJa-nkkRqKxBQh25KU0IAlYcs-9ffztoXVCbv8OmVAYnFGWAVZexjob9xy9jCnhO_dx-J4m5qEEjM6LeXKOeF6azN3qY5PfdtMMcb7yZOAZ2zg47kZ_9zPs/s400/Much+Ado+About+Nothing+blog.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: xx-small;">An eavesdropping Beatrice (Amy Acker, foreground) is astonished to overhear details<br />about how Benedick — elsewhere in the estate — has long adored her ... astonished<br />because it seems that she and Benedick do nothing but snipe at each other. Ah, but<br />Beatrice doesn't realize that Hero (Jillian Morgese, center) and the maid are fully aware<br />that they're being overheard, and are discussing "details" that have been exaggerated<br />for Beatrice's benefit.</span></td></tr></tbody></table><div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle"><span style="font-weight: normal;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Most filmmakers, after completing principal photography on a massive, gazillion-dollar project, unwind prior to the next step — assembling the director’s cut — by taking calm vacations ... <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>anything <i>but</i> film-related.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle"><span style="font-weight: normal;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Joss Whedon isn’t most people. Prior to putting the finishing touches on <i><a href="http://derrickbang.blogspot.com/2012/05/avengers-well-assembled.html">The Avengers</a></i> — last year’s wildly successful superhero summit meeting — he filled the in-between time by staging an intimate, micro-budget movie at his own Los Angeles home. And, as genre geeks know, when Whedon mounts such a project, he always engages the close friends who’ve become one of Hollywood’s most loyal repertoire companies.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle"><span style="font-weight: normal;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">In this case, a 12-day shoot (!) yielded one of the most unusual interpretations of Shakespeare’s <i>Much Ado About Nothing</i> ever to hit cinema screens. Lensed in glorious, mood-enhancing black-and-white by cinematographer Jay Hunter, this modern-dress staging nonetheless employs the Bard’s original dialogue — condensed and occasionally tweaked by Whedon — and features faces well-recognized from his various television projects.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle"><span style="font-weight: normal;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Yes, kids; that means <i>Buffy the Vampire Slayer</i>, <i>Angel</i>, <i>Firefly</i> and <i>Dollhouse</i>.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle"><span style="font-weight: normal;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Thus, my somewhat cryptic opening sentence can be explained by the casting of Alexis Denisof and Amy Acker — Wesley Wyndam-Price and Winifred “Fred” Burke, respectively, on <i>Angel</i> — as Benedick and Beatrice.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle"><span style="font-weight: normal;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Lest you roll eyebrows over the reflexive accusation that Whedon has unleashed a self-indulgent vanity production, well, yes, that’s certainly true. But who can complain, when the results are this entertaining?<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle"><span style="font-weight: normal;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">To be sure, the initial disconnect is jarring. The setting, clothing and technology clearly are 21st century, which is at odds with the flowery Shakespearean dialogue. The acting style throughout is a bit ostentatious and overly mannered, the performers occasionally mugging for the camera the way a stage actor would pause for a laugh from the audience.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle"><span style="font-weight: normal;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">But that “settling in” period can be true of <i>any</i> Shakespeare production, even those that are rigorously authentic. Fifteen or 20 minutes into this film, everything starts to look and sound natural, at which point you’ll simply enjoy the richly contrived romantic entanglements present in one of Shakespeare’s most appealing comedies.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle"><br /></div><a name='more'></a><br />  <div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle"><span style="font-weight: normal;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The core plot is fairly simple: Leonato (Clark Gregg), governor of Messina, plays host to his good friend Don Pedro (Reed Diamond), who has just quashed a rebellion by his villainous brother, Don John (Sean Maher). Although the latter and his two accomplices — Borachio (Spencer Treat Clark) and Conrade (Riki Lindhome) — arrive in handcuffs, they’re allowed freedom of movement during this visit, as a gesture of kindness. (<i>Big</i> mistake!)<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle"><span style="font-weight: normal;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Don Pedro is accompanied by two faithful officers: Benedick and the younger, somewhat impetuous Claudio (Fran Kranz). The latter immediately falls head-over-heels in love with Leonato’s daughter, Hero (Jillian Morgese), and she with him.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle"><span style="font-weight: normal;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Benedick, in turn, has something of an on-again/off-again relationship with Leonato’s niece, Beatrice. They spar verbally in the rich, earthy and often scaldingly pointed manner of “estranged” Shakespearean lovers in numerous plays. T’would be gross understatement to mention that Denisof and Acker thoroughly enjoy hacking at each other, particularly as the exchanges become more deliciously nasty.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle"><span style="font-weight: normal;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Leonato, Don Pedro, Claudio and Hero concoct a plan to cut past this nonsense and get Benedick and Beatrice to acknowledge their mutual fondness.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle"><span style="font-weight: normal;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">But this would mean <i>two</i> happy couples, which is far more than the evil Don John can tolerate. He therefore engages his own sinister scheme to sever both relationships, and if the residual fallout should destroy his brother’s reputation ... well, so much the better.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle"><span style="font-weight: normal;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">In other words, business as usual for Shakespeare: duplicitous villains, concealed identities, misleading intentions and additional folderol that could be put right with one or two direct conversations. But where’s the fun in that?<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle"><span style="font-weight: normal;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Production designers Cindy Chao and Michele Yu make excellent use of the spacious outdoor and indoor settings, and Whedon also draws additional chuckles from the incongruities of modern behavior. As one example, Denisof rambles through one of Benedick’s tormented soliloquies — questioning his possible responses to Beatrice’s behavior — while jogging up and down the concrete stairs that lead up to the estate swimming pool (an intriguing visual in its own right).<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle"><span style="font-weight: normal;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The most fun, however, comes when first Benedick and then Beatrice, in turn, are tricked into believing that they’re “accidentally” overhearing telling conversations by Leonato, Don Pedro, Claudio and Hero. Denisof’s attempt to conceal himself in the back yard, moving from one window to the next, is simply priceless; Acker’s body-bruising effort to hide within the kitchen is equally hilarious.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle"><span style="font-weight: normal;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">On a more serious level, the degree to which we’ve bought into the story — no matter how grandiloquent the speech and mannerisms — can be measured by our reaction to the moment when, as Hero is betrayed in the worst possible way for a woman, her own father shuns her. Gregg, until now a genial host and doting parent, transforms into a beast whose fury is shocking; we feel his wrath like a physical blow.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle"><span style="font-weight: normal;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Thankfully, even such dire moments are offset by lighter fare. Nathan Fillion supplies pure comic relief as the bumbling, word-mangling Dogberry, a total idiot police officer who stumbles into this case entirely by accident, and then fails to grasp the significance of the evidence he helps uncover. (Dogberry is too agitated over having been called an ass by the contemptuous Conrade.)<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle"><span style="font-weight: normal;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Fillion and Tom Lenk, playing Dogberry’s partner Verges, also have plenty of fun lampooning modern TV cop show clichés, down to the unnecessary sunglasses.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle"><span style="font-weight: normal;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Although the story is propelled by romantic intrigue and clandestine double-cross, Whedon doesn’t overlook the lusty undertone that permeates many Shakespeare plays, which can range from subtly earthy to flat-out bawdy. An early celebratory party at Leonato’s estate — before Don John’s vile machinations take hold — is one such example. <o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle"><span style="font-weight: normal;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The tone is set by a pair of scantily dressed Cirque de Soleil-style acrobats who cavort on a trapeze near the pool, but the entire company sways with the intoxicating application of free-flowing alcohol and sexual tension. Couples begin to shed clothes and vanish off-camera, just quickly enough to preserve this film’s PG-13 rating ... and then there’s the lusty maid, Margaret (Ashley Johnson), who seems willing to drop her knickers for just about any good-looking bloke.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle"><span style="font-weight: normal;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Denisof and Acker get most of the best lines — and plot contrivances — and therefore wind up with more screen time during which to strut their stuff. But much of the cast is equally memorable, no matter what size the role. Morgese is appropriately winsome and delicate as the fair Hero, which is essential if we’re to believe her reaction to the foul accusation from those she has trusted. (We must remember that Shakespearean women, no matter how spirited their tongues, can have their lives ruined by unscrupulous men.)<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle"><span style="font-weight: normal;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Kranz is suitably earnest — and just naïve enough — as the smitten Claudio. Kranz has a similarly powerful moment when his character is enraged by a perceived betrayal: Again, the moment is breathtaking for its unexpected intensity.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle"><span style="font-weight: normal;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Maher narrows his gaze quite convincingly as the vile Don John, who visibly revels in his own malevolence: a guy who loves being wicked for its own sake. (And he was such a <i>nice</i> guy on TV’s <i>Firefly</i>. Go figure.)<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle"><span style="font-weight: normal;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">On the other hand, Diamond remains a bit bland as Don Pedro, while both Clark and Lindhome are under-developed as Borachio and Conrade. Lindhome’s casting actually is intriguing; some recent productions of this play have staged Conrad (no “e”) as Don John’s male lover, and Whedon drops more than one suggestion here that — despite being played by an attractive young woman — this film’s Conrade actually <i>is</i> a man.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle"><span style="font-weight: normal;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Assuming I’ve read that correctly, it’s an amusing nod toward the fact that, during Shakespeare’s time, female roles were played by effeminate men.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle"><span style="font-weight: normal;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">My overall pleasure notwithstanding, I suspect this film will be embraced solely by Shakespeare buffs and Whedon’s devoted fan base. I can’t imagine mainstream audiences getting on board, particularly during summer’s bombastic silly season. Indeed, quite a few folks departed midway through Monday evening’s Sacramento preview. (Their loss.)<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle"><span style="font-weight: normal;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">OK, so maybe Whedon <i>did</i> make a film mostly for himself and his friends. It could be argued, though, that this is the first rule of art: Satisfy yourself, and hope the rest of the world catches on. This <i>Much Ado</i> may be an odd Shakespearean duck, but I’ll happily watch it again: always my most essential movie criteria.</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Times New Roman';"><o:p></o:p></span></span></div>