Shakespeare adaptations seem to be a constant in modern film, whether they’re faithful to the original story like Justin Kurzel’s Macbeth or radical refreshes like Baz Luhrmann’s Romeo + Juliet. Director Casey Wilder Mott’s debut feature is closer to the latter, but without the excess of style. Mott brings the story to Los Angeles with some noteworthy updates. As in the original text, there are multiple parallel storylines with the main thread following two women, Hermia (Rachel Leigh Cook; She’s All That) and Helena (Lily Rabe; Miss Stevens), as they leave the city with their lovers only to have their relationships interfered with by the fairy Puck and the machinations of the fairy king and queen Oberon and Titania. Alongside these stories is a group of performers trying to put on a show for an upcoming wedding.
The decision to transport the setting from ancient Athens to modern day Los Angeles brings a whole new culture to the story. The young aristocrats are now millennials doing everything expected of their demographic. It will never be normal to see Shakespeare communicated using emojis but the incongruity is entertaining enough. There also some California-specific transformations with the mischievous fairy Puck becoming a surfer hippie and Titania and Oberon acting like some sort of drug-using cultists. There are even visual callbacks to millennial humor including one staging that references a frequently lampooned music video. Adapting Shakespeare is difficult because of the inherent disconnect any modern viewer has to the manner of speech, but Mott’s modern context brings the source material to a comparatively digestible level.
The play’s multiple storylines are not adapted at the same level of quality. The story of Hermia and Helena and their mercurial lovers is handled well with the confusion of Puck’s misplaced love spells leading to plenty of laughs. The feuding between Titania and Oberon is the most bizarre adaptation with their characters portrayed closer to a drug-addicted couple rather than the royalty of the original text, but the unexpected change is a welcome one. Oberon in particular is devilish in his expressions and his desire to embarrass his partner. It’s the play-within-a-play that struggles to be relevant. Because of the LA setting, this storyline is now an (amateur) film-within-the-film being made by students. The actors here are obnoxious and the attempted parody of film school productions is less satire and more an example of a bad student film. The overacted performances are groan-inducing and the intended payoff of showing their completed short falls completely flat, producing no laughs. Anytime the film cuts back to this story it muddles the pacing of the other interesting plotlines.
Mott’s take on the classic play is unlikely to change anyone’s feelings towards the work or Shakespeare in general. The flowery dialogue, while well-delivered by the majority of the cast, will still be too much for most to follow. However, it is noteworthy how naturally many of the actors are able to express the elaborate lines. Rather than shouting proclamations like most stage productions would, the cast uses their normal speaking voices which helps make the writing more familiar and approachable. Mott doesn’t change the core of the stories enough to entice new converts, but his modern context will be refreshing for existing fans.
3/5 stars.