Me and Orson Welles

I'm going to start right off by admitting I know little of Orson Welles. Sure, maybe a thing here and there, but not enough to make it a reason to see a film just because his name is in the title. Nor have I ever seen High School Musical which I'm told is the claim to fame of one of the co-stars of this film (Zac Efron).  I must also respectfully remove myself from the crowd that is overly enamored of films with an old-timey feel to their dialog. Consequently my demographic preferences do not align with the duck's soup of audiences that might be natural constituencies for 'Me and Orson Welles.'  Nonetheless, I was looking forward to seeing it from what I'd read in the description and online.  Unfortunately while it had some positive moments I was seriously underwhelmed by the experience.

The film is fiction and follows High School student Richard who through a gift for fiction, bravado and sucking up lands a role in Orson Welles' stage production of Hamlet.  I'm assuming the similarity between the mouse and Ben Franklin books is unintentional. Mr. Welles appears to be organizationally challenged and huge asshole most of the time.  By the end we get to witness a production that supports the belief repeatedly stated in the movie that he's a genius. While that on screen re-enactment of the play is brilliant - it's really the only part of the film I felt engaged in (yes - even better than Hamlet 2 / Rock Me Sexy Jesus). Otherwise it just felt like a bunch of stereotypes of an old-timey bunch with some romantic comedy mixed into the pot. That could have been fine, but none of the performances nor the plot seemed to stir any strong response in me.

All the characters you'd expect make an appearance. Welles as the temperamental genius who's prone to arbitrary vengeance between breaks to nail anything that moves (Claire Danes).  The grounded theater manager who pushes back.  Egotistical yet fragile female leads.  The accented New Yorkers who whether carpenters or comedic actors all seem more stereotypically Jewish than is strictly required. The female theater staffer getting ahead by any means necessary while remaining lovable by all. And the young kid observing all while being almost part of the scene by a stroke of luck we suspect won't quite hold.

If you're in one of the groups with a strong irrational pull to see this film I don't think you'll be wildly disappointed. If you just think it wouldn't be the worst thing to see some historical fiction free of zombie and/or sparkly vampires where they utter cute phrases like "that's swell!" yet rut like bunnies off screen - you can comfort yourself with the fact that cinema tickets are still way cheaper than live theater.  For myself, I'll remind myself it was a well technically made film, I didn't pay for it, and there's still hope for a sequel that does include zombies.

Screening notes: Thanks are in order to SIFF for hosting this special 'Oscar Buzz' benefit screening Wed night. As always a pleasure to see the film ahead of it's release.  Again, I didn't really dislike the movie - just wasn't that interested overall (to the point of boredome in the first half).