much ado about nothing . ah , how sweet the irony ! it's accepted wisdom in some circles - among english literature nuts , mainly - that whenever a critic knocks shakespeare they are only doing so through ignorance . he just doesn't " understand " shakespeare , you will hear them say . the bard's work is apparently beyond criticism . what a load of old cobblers . if these arbiters of public taste think kenneth branaugh's film of shakespeare's " comedy " much ado about nothing is comedy in any modern sense of the word , it's time to get a life . get monty python . get woody allen . get john waters . whatever . just get a real taste of some clever , witty , risky comedy . and banish this nonsense to where it belongs . drama and tragedy was shakespeare's strength . to my sensibilities - and i'm no stick in the mud - much ado about nothing resonates with no spark whatsoever . no kidding : this film ranks among the most embarrassing two hours i have ever spent in a cinema in my 20 years of movie going . the only thing that stopped me walking out was loyalty to my lady friend , as this was our day out and i hadn't seen her in ages . but boy , does she owe me one ! i won't spend too much time on the plot . basically , we follow the trials and tribulations of two would-be couples - one young , the other older . there's some dark treachery amongst all this , but everyone is so awfully jolly that you'd hardly know it . mind you , there's nothing wrong with the basic story . good romantic comedies based on similar premises abound . nothing wrong with most of the cast , either . branaugh , emma thompson and denzel washington are all talented performers . the problem is the script , or more accurately , shakespeare's original text . light comedy shouldn't be complex . yet wrapped in elizabethan english , the dialogue becomes difficult to comprehend . for this alone it will be a problem for modern audiences unschooled in shakespeare and in search of nothing more than a good , undemanding laugh . the only laughs to escape my belly were brought on by the gloriously inept performance of keanu reeves , the actor once again miscast as a jealous half-brother or something . but when dissected and understood , what it all boils down to is that this stuff is just so goddamn lame . this is comedy so clean and nice and corny and so devoid of danger that it leaves this viewer totally cold . ho , ho , ho , boy likes girl ! ho , ho , ho , men are such klutzes ! ho , ho , ho , she's so awfully clumsy ! oh please ! there's wit in here somewhere , i'm told . i call it pretentious . something lightweight striving to be something sophisticated through clever wordplay . in the end , it's cringeworthy . watching some of the cinema patrons around me collapse with laughter made much ado about nothing a very weird movie going experience . comedy ? bah , humbug !
