Me & Orson Welles

Movie Summary of Me & Orson Welles by Michael the Moviegoer.

ME & ORSON WELLES = ***

“Zac Efron Graduates High School”

Zac Efron graduates from “High School Musical” and enrolls in the University of Richard Linklater. He doesn’t exactly get straight A’s in his freshman role as a serious actor, and the question still remains open as to whether Efron is the next Johnny Depp or the next Scott Baio.

Efron’s limited skills as an actor suits him well in this role as a wanna-be actor who joins Orson Welles’ Mercury Theatre company and nabs a small role in Welles’ adaptation of Shakespeare’s “Julius Caesar”. His natural naivete is what is needed here and works perfectly alongside veteran British actors such as Eddie Marsan and Ben Chaplin.

The story unfolds over the course of one week prior to the play’s opening. During this time, Efron’s character experiences a coming-of-age in both his love for theatre and his love for an older woman played by Claire Danes.

But this film’s towering achievement belongs to Christian McKay who gives a spot-on performance (or maybe that should be impersonation) of Orson Welles. McKay nails Welles’ arrogance and eccentricity in a way that has us understanding why this genius would go on to revolutionize cinema by making films like “Citizen Kane” and “Touch Of Evil”.

The production design perfectly captures the details of an era that existed nearly a century ago. But too many modern phrases find their way into the dialogue. I doubt men discussed girls with phrases like “getting in her pants” in an era when women rarely, if ever, wore pants.

Still, “Me & Orson Welles” is a delight for fans of theatre, acting, Shakespeare and Welles. Give Richard Linklater, and Christian McKay, a standing ovation.

DVD Double Feature: By complete contrast, as “Me & Orson Welles” gives us a glimpse of one of the greatest directors of all time, “Ed Wood” tells the story of the worst director of all time. Tim Burton’s 1994 film stars Johnny Depp as a director whose passion and determination were equal to Welles’. Wood just lacked any talent at all. In one scene there is a chance encounter between Wood and Orson Welles (wonderfully played by Vincent D’Onofrio). “Ed Wood” is an oddly loving tribute to incompetence as art.

Michael The Moviegoer