Me And Orson Welles: Fabulously Entertaining!

Opening this week is Me And Orson Welles, a fabulously entertaining new film by Richard Linklater about a headstrong high schooler,  Richard (Zac Efron), who bluffs his way into Orson Welles's Mercury Theater during the final week of rehearsal of their legendary 1937 production of Julius Cesar. It's a whirlwind for Richard -- he falls in love with Welles's beautiful, nakedly ambitious assistant Sonja (Claire Danes), locks horns and does the unthinkable by disagreeing with the blustery tyrant, Welles himself (Christian McKay), and he even gets to appear (bittersweetly) on stage on an opening night that must have been true theatrical magic. It's a delightful conceit and Linklater really brings the loony mayhem of theater enjoyably to life on screen with a wonderful supporting cast including Ben Chaplin, Eddie Marsan, Kelly Reilly, James Tupper, etc. But the real treat is McKay who just nails Welles's bigger than life persona and captures the musicality of that memorably grand, sonorous voice. He also captures the vulnerability and epic sadness of him too.