Review

Review Date: 13-December-09
Spoiler Rating: Medium
Juju Judgment: Juicy

Me and Orson Welles (2009)

Richard Linklater's Me and Orson Welles is the less sophisticated American cousin of Oscar hopeful An Education. It likewise concerns an innocent teenager of a bygone era who makes a foray into the adult world and discovers that it is populated with bastards. The teen (an amiable Zac Efron) is an artist seeking his niche who falls in with the Mercury Theatre troupe in 1937 New York. The troupe is staging a modernized version of Shakespeare's Julius Caesar and flying by the seat of its pants. During a few days' involvement with their make-or-break venture the boy learns about life and love, callousness and creativity as he squints into the bright glare of greatness.

From the pantheon of bastards the movie plucks a doozy. Actor/director/innovator of radio, theater, and film, Orson Welles is as renowned for brilliance as he is for being a jerk. It would probably gall him to know that his name comes second in the title of this film, but I wonder what he would think of Christian McKay's terrific impersonation of himself. The British actor, who resembles Welles, nails his voice and mannerisms and comes darn close to conveying the towering presence of an egomaniac with a vision. Welles was only 22 at the time but already a tyrant used to getting his way, which fortunately led to virtuosity. What a hoot to watch McKay-as-Welles browbeat and cajole the likes of George Coulouris (Ben Chaplin) and Joseph Cotten (James Tupper) until they are putty in his hands. (Of course Cotten, a longtime friend, seems to have been content to trail in Welles' wake. Here he is too busy chasing skirts to worry about being pushed around. Incidentally, the movie muffs his nickname, which he spells "Jo" without an "e" in his autobiography.)

The twosome of the title comes into conflict over a woman (Claire Danes) who helps manage the production in the hopes of breaking into show business. Danes is too old for the part of would-be starlet and seducer of high school boys, and she exhibits an aggravating habit of twitching to emphasize every line. I had a hard time believing in her as a person or object of general lust. The young man's other love interest, a sort of idealized fairy soulmate, is also poorly delineated, but Linklater uses her to maintain a rosy hue for the picture as a whole. This is not just a coming-of-age story that wants to end with promise, but a fond (and partly fictitious) remembrance of the moment when a masterpiece was made and a genius was on the rise.

Copyright © 2009 The Jujube (M. I. Kim). All rights reserved.