YMMV / Much Ado About Nothing (1993)

• Crazy Is Cool: Dogberry already applies in the original play, but it's even more notable here where he's truly unhinged and rides around on an imaginary horse like he's in Monty Python.
• Fridge Brilliance: A lot of people complain about Keanu Reeves portraying Don John in a stiff, almost wooden manner. But this is almost certainly a deliberate choice. Don John is, during the whole thing, a prisoner of war. He rebelled against his brother, the rightful prince, and was captured in the fighting; he's being treated well because he's still part of the royal family (albeit a Royal Bastard), but he's not there by choice and is not happy about any of it.
• Ham and Cheese: It's very clear that actor Michael Keaton and director Kenneth Branagh realized that Dogberry's by far the silliest character in the piece and just let Keaton go completely out of his mind over the top and revel in playing such a cartoonish constable.
• Harsher in Hindsight: Seeing Kenneth Branagh and Emma Thompson fall in love with impeccable chemistry is harder to watch given their separation only a few years later. Even worse is how this version shows the women being pleased with the poem/song "Hey Nonny Nonny", which may sound nice at first, except it's about how men can get away with cheating, which is exactly what Branagh did.
• Narm: Robert Sean Leonard is a strong actor and does a good job as Claudio, but his occasionally melodramatic facial expressions in the second half can be a little hard to take seriously. Then again, Claudio is written very melodramatically, so it can be forgiven.
• Narm Charm: Michael Keaton's performance as Dogberry is so unbelievably over the top that some might call it too much, but his sheer devotion to playing the part as hammy as humanly possible results in plenty of laughs. In all fairness, if there's one character that can get away with such an absurd performance in this piece, it's Dogberry.
• Older Than They Think: The fart joke in Dogberry's first scene may seem out of place, but Shakespeare had written his own fart joke before in Twelfth Night.
• Questionable Casting: Exactly why did Keanu Reeves and Denzel Washington play Don John and Don Pedro, who are, in fact, brothers (Well, half-brothers...)? Onstage this type of thing is common practice, but it's very rare that a movie would indulge in Color Blind Casting of such different complexions when it comes to a pair of brothers. With all that said, Washington's performance was met with his fair share of praise. Reeves is a different case, with some believing he acquitted himself surprisingly well with the bard's language, and others believing that he sticks out poorly among the other actors.
• Retroactive Recognition: This was one of Kate Beckinsale's first big roles.