Review of Me and Orson Welles (2008) by Rainer K — 28 Feb 2013

I hate Zac Efron but for Linklater's sake I gave him another chance and against all odds - he didn't blow it.

Well, he still was overshadowed by a gorgeous Claire Danes and a perfect and hilarious Christian McKay who plays Orson Welles like I imagine him. I think they got his attitude quite right - he's arrogant, loud, poetic, eccentric and visionary.

The film is at its best when they're in the Mercury theater rehearsing and eventually performing the play. The love story though which thankfully stayed in the back for most of the time was disjointed and not good-enough developed. The dialogue, is, although not written by Linklater himself, as qitty and spirited as you know it from him.

I also found costumes and the whole art direction not as authentic as we know it from other period pieces of the same era - it all had a certain modern feeling that didn't feel the 30s at all.