Film Reviews

Me and Orson Welles

• Rating:
• Director: Richard Linklater
• Starring: Zac Efron, Claire Danes, Ben Chaplin
• Details: US/114mins (12A)

Trying desperately to shake the tween idol tag that has seen the High School Musical franchise make a mint, Zac Efron also tries to garner some street cred by working with indie stalwart, Richard Linklater. While he's already proven that he can star in a hit movie outside of HSM, 17 Again saw him donning the basketball jersey and being an extremely slick teen, who's good at stuff. Here, he's plays an extremely slick teen, who thinks he's good at stuff until he meets Orson Welles. No bursting into a sporadic dance routine is gonna save him now. An aspiring actor desperate to find his big break, Efron's high school student, Richard Samuels, stumbles across a production of Welles' classic take on Julius Caesar at the Mercury Theatre on Broadway. Hired by the tempestuous Welles' on a whim, he is privy to the great mans genius, infidelity and brazen arrogance, years before he would star in and direct Citizen Kane. Along the way he falls for Claire Danes' ambitious theatre worker, and learns about the inner workings of a supposedly world renowned theatre company. While an enjoyable enough watch for the most part, Me and Orson Welles is just far too slight and forgettable to serve as anything other than substitute fare, when something you really wanna see is sold out at your local multiplex. Efron can undoubtedly act, and has sufficient charisma to suggest that he could one day be a break-out, bona-fide movie star; but he's misdirected here by Linklater, who lets him slip into old habits too much. Christian McKay, however, is brilliant as Welles, playing the iconic egomaniac with strangely magnetic, but wholly convincing arrogance. You have to give Efron credit for his offbeat choice, as his core fanbase will be utterly distraught at sitting through something that may feel like glorified cramming for the Junior Cert. The story just isn't as engrossing enough to warrant the price of a cinema ticket.

Review by Mike Sheridan