Director: Richard Linklater
Producers: Ann Carli et al.
Screenplay: Holly Gent Palmo & Vincent Palmo Jr.
(screenplay); Robert Kaplow (novel)
Cinematography: Dick Pope
Editor: Sandra Adair
Running Time: 114 minutes
Cast: Garrick Hagon (Dr. Mewling), Zac Efron
(Richard Samuels), Zoe Kazan (Gretta Adler), Megan Maczko (Evelyn Allen), Simon
Lee Phillips (Walter Ash), Patrick Kennedy (Grover Burgess), James Tupper
(Joseph Cotten), Thomas Arnold (George Duthie), Aidan McArdle (Martin Gabel),
Simon Nehan (Joe Holland), Claire Danes (Sonja Jones), Daniel Tuite (William
Mowry), Iain McKee (Vakhtangov), Michael J. McEvoy (Epstein), Eddie Marsan
(John Houseman), Travis Oliver (John Hoyt), Jo McInnes (Jeannie Rosenthal), Leo
Bill (Norman Lloyd), Ben Chaplin (George Coulouris), Al Weaver (Sam Leve),
Christian McKay (Orson Welles), Emily Allen (Virginia Welles)
Me and Orson Welles is Richard Linklater's pleasant coming-of-age drama about a fictitious teen named Richard Seymour (Zach Effron) who lands the part of Lucius in Orson Welles's 1937 stage production of Julius Caesar. You've probably heard about Christian McKay's performance as Welles, and indeed, that is the main reason to watch the film. When he first appears, you will find yourself saying, "Okay, that's a pretty good imitation of Welles." But the more the performance plays itself out, the more you marvel at the man's mannerisms, expressions, gait, inflections--McKay has mastered Welles ... well, sort of.
I think if there is a complaint it is that we are supposed to be seeing the character Welles as he was behind the camera, and McKay is playing Welles as he acted on screen--we see elements of Charles Foster Kane and Harry Lime mostly, but I guess maybe that is the point. The main reason Lime, for instance, is so memorable in The Third Man is because of Welles, who makes him larger than life despite his limited screen time. Perhaps the logical assumption is that characters like Kane and Lime were merely extensions of Welles personality, that even in real life he was as much a performer as when on stage or screen (or radio, as we are treated to a scene in Me and Orson Welles where Welles improvises during a broadcast of The Shadow by inserting a passage from the novel The Magnificent Ambersons).
Beyond McKay's wonderful performance, the rest of the film is pleasant, a nice diversion. Zac Effron is not as annoying as you'd think he might be. The character of Joseph Cotten (played by James Tupper) is distracting because he isn't played as strongly in terms of imitative skill as McKay plays at Welles. In fact, I didn't realize this cavalier cad was supposed to be Joseph Cotten until late in the film.
I was reminded, in a way, of the film The Rat Pack, where none of the great actors in the cast really worked to capture the essence of their character except Don Cheadle. Ray Liotta as Sinatra was just Ray Liotta; Joe Mantagna as Dean Martin is an average imitation; but Cheadle embodied Sammy Davis Jr. to such a degree that it was like watching Sammy himself. His performance was so good that other actors playing iconic players of the time (William Petersen as JFK? Pul-lease!) were weakened in terms of their craft. That is what happens with the Joe Cotten character in Me and Orson Welles; given the power of McKay as Welles, you would have thought the James Tupper would have tried to match that intensity, would have tried to sell us Joseph Cotten the way McKay sold us Welles.
But Alas, this film is really McKay's show. Again, McKay is the best reason to watch the film, just as Val Kilmer as Jim Morrison was the best reason to watch The Doors. Without McKay's Welles, Me and Orson Welles is charming but forgettable. It takes an astonishing performance like this to both steal a movie and elevate it to something greater than it has aspired to be.
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