Reciting Shakespeare in a modern setting is extremely difficult, which is why few have bothered to attempt it. In the end, even if you do it really well, it's still just a bunch of actors with cars and smart phones reading Shakespeare and if that's not your cup of tea, well, then you have nothing.
This particular attempt makes a little more sense when you know how and why it was made. Joss Whedon was taking 12 days off shooting The Avengers when he got a bunch of his Whedonverse friends to quickly and secretly shoot a low-budget, black-and-white film in his house. Apparently, he always wanted to make a film reading Shakespeare's Much Ado About Nothing set in a contemporary world.
The film opens and it's immediately apparent that the words will take a bit of getting used to, but there is lots of body language to translate just what is going on. And what is going on is drama of every sort; drama to the point of ridiculousness and thank heavens, the cast is having fun with it. Fans of Whedon will appreciate some of their favourites (Amy Acker and Alexis Denisof) hamming it up for the screen, especially the hamtastic Nathan Fillon as a buffoon officer.
In the end, this film is oddly fantastic at what it sets out to do. I'm just not so sure it needed to be done.
Much Ado About Nothing is available in print in the library under Shakespeare or DVD everywhere online enjoy.
