44 lines
2.9 KiB
Plaintext
44 lines
2.9 KiB
Plaintext
much ado about nothing .
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ah , how sweet the irony !
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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 .
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he just doesn't " understand " shakespeare , you will hear them say .
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the bard's work is apparently beyond criticism .
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what a load of old cobblers .
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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 .
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get monty python .
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get woody allen .
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get john waters .
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whatever .
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just get a real taste of some clever , witty , risky comedy .
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and banish this nonsense to where it belongs .
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drama and tragedy was shakespeare's strength .
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to my sensibilities - and i'm no stick in the mud - much ado about nothing resonates with no spark whatsoever .
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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 .
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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 .
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but boy , does she owe me one !
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i won't spend too much time on the plot .
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basically , we follow the trials and tribulations of two would-be couples - one young , the other older .
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there's some dark treachery amongst all this , but everyone is so awfully jolly that you'd hardly know it .
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mind you , there's nothing wrong with the basic story .
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good romantic comedies based on similar premises abound .
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nothing wrong with most of the cast , either .
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branaugh , emma thompson and denzel washington are all talented performers .
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the problem is the script , or more accurately , shakespeare's original text .
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light comedy shouldn't be complex .
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yet wrapped in elizabethan english , the dialogue becomes difficult to comprehend .
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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 .
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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 .
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but when dissected and understood , what it all boils down to is that this stuff is just so goddamn lame .
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this is comedy so clean and nice and corny and so devoid of danger that it leaves this viewer totally cold .
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ho , ho , ho , boy likes girl !
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ho , ho , ho , men are such klutzes !
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ho , ho , ho , she's so awfully clumsy !
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oh please !
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there's wit in here somewhere , i'm told .
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i call it pretentious .
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something lightweight striving to be something sophisticated through clever wordplay .
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in the end , it's cringeworthy .
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watching some of the cinema patrons around me collapse with laughter made much ado about nothing a very weird movie going experience .
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comedy ?
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bah , humbug !
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