num_pages: 144
description: Much Ado About Nothing is probably the most satisfying, and certainly the liveliest and most charming, of Kenneth Branagh's Shakespeare films. The witty badinage between Branagh and his then-wife Emma Thompson, as Benedick and Beatrice, is as bright and sunny as the golden sunlight that shines on the Tuscan villa where the picture was shot. This production--and don't ask about the plot, just remember the title--is an ebullient celebration of art and artifice, culminating in a joyous dance, and performed at a brisk pace by an all-star cast, including Denzel Washington, Robert Sean Leonard, Keanu Reeves, and Michael Keaton. --Jim Emerson
language: English
title: Much Ado About Nothing
titlecomplete: Much Ado About Nothing
characters: Leonato, Conrade, Hero (Much ado), Ursula (Shakespeare), Verges, Borachio, Don Pedro, Friar Francis, Innogen, Dogberry, The Watch, Claudio, A Sexton, Beatrice (diverse works), Benedick (Much Ado About Nothing), boy, Magaret, Antonio, Don John, Balthazar (Much Ado About Nothing)
genres: Fiction, Plays, Humor, Theatre, Classics, Drama, Romance, Literature, Poetry, School
ratings_count: 239315
places: Messina, Sicily, Sicily
publisher: Wordsworth Editions Ltd