With an Energized Affection

Thunder and Shakespeare, it's a match made in heaven.

On my to-do list this week was seeing "Much Ado About Nothing," further confirmed when a loyal blog reader informed me that if I loved life, I needed to see this.

I shall see thee, ere I die, look pale with love.

With a fellow Shakespeare lover in tow, we found seats in the theater, the one with the giant windows on the side of the building.

Moments before the previews began, the red shades lowered and all was dark.

It was an ideal start to the new black and white version of "MAAN,"

I could not endure a husband with a beard on his face.

As the bickering Beatrice and Benedick proclaimed their distaste for each other, moments of silence allowed the thunder outside to be plainly heard inside.

It was fitting, given the tempestuous nature of their relationship.

And to be merry best becomes you.

The film was exquisitely filmed in black and white, in that way that makes you forget about color entirely.

And for anyone who'd scoff at Shakespeare on film, I have news for you. It was laugh-out-loud funny.

She mocks all her wooers out of suit.

The party scene, especially, was mesmerizing, with "Hey, Nonnie, Nonnie" music and graceful trapeze artists suspended overhead.

It was the kind of party I'd love to attend.

The glory shall be ours, for we are the only love gods.

The beauty of this adaptation was how contemporary it was, not in language, but in setting and dress.

Since we usually see Shakespeare done live, getting to see it up close - facial gestures, whispered phrases, intimate gestures - was much more of a treat than I'd anticipated.

But till all graces be in one woman, one woman shall not come in my grace.

The cast was excellent, tossing off the Bard's English in a way that any moron could understand.

Even the four girls sitting next to us who texted through the pre-film on-screen admonishment not to text or e-mail during the film, laughed occasionally.

For which of my bad parts did thou first fall in love with me?

The whole movie had the feel of a long weekend party with friends, one where something was always happening, but you had to be around to be privy to it.

In other words, the very best kind of screwball comedy.

Every detail was brilliantly conceived, whether bottles on a window ledge, a bouquet tossed on the ground or a nosy Beatrice bumping into everything in the room in her haste to hear what is being said about her.

Thou and I are too wise to woo peaceably.

I was enchanted from beginning to end, caught up in a black and white Woody Allen-world where people say the cleverest things and inevitably fall for the ones who give them the best wordplay.

I will stop your mouth.

The subplot about the hilarious and inane constable Dogberry trying to track down bad guys is beyond hysterical with his mispronounced words and misplaced bravado.

Man is a giddy thing.

It's not just man; this woman was giddy with delight by the time Hero and Claudio and Beatrice and Benedick wed.

The funniest part?

The dumb girls next to me never saw it coming.

"Oh, it's her!" one exclaimed when Claudio's bride was revealed to be his love.

You were right, CW, this is a movie for people who love life.

Besides, I've heard being merry becomes me. Bad parts and all.