Directed by Joss Whedon
(PG-13)
The Week
Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.
Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
I can sense your distrust already, Shakespeare lovers, said David Edelstein in New York magazine. That the creator of Buffy the Vampire Slayer has filmed the Bard’s well-traveled comedy in his L.A. mansion with actors from commercial television is undoubtedly generating much ado in your circles. But “a director looking over his shoulder for frowning dramaturges” might never have been able to accomplish what Joss Whedon has here, because it’s “hard to imagine” a more assured screen adaptation. The “prickly banter” of would-be lovers Benedick and Beatrice gives this story its snap, and Alexis Denisof and Amy Acker handle it beautifully, said Catherine Shoard in The Guardian (U.K.). Whedon meanwhile shows “a keen ear for comedy, a deft hand for slapstick, and an eagerness to use it.” Let’s hope that smart labors of love like this one have a future, said Linda Holmes in NPR.org. It will generate only the smallest fraction of the money made by Whedon’s last feature—Marvel’s The Avengers—but it’s the kind of project that reminds us all that “delight is an end in itself.”
-
Switzerland could vote to cap its populationUnder the Radar Swiss People’s Party proposes referendum on radical anti-immigration measure to limit residents to 10 million
-
Political cartoons for February 15Cartoons Sunday's political cartoons include political ventriloquism, Europe in the middle, and more
-
The broken water companies failing England and WalesExplainer With rising bills, deteriorating river health and a lack of investment, regulators face an uphill battle to stabilise the industry
