Mia Doi Todd

(On Cable TV, April 2020) I’m not always a good audience for Shakespearian adaptation, but this 2017 version of A Midsummer Night’s Dream is surprisingly interesting. It begins by recasting the Bard’s tale in a modern alternate universe fusion of Athens recast as Los Angeles, with its characters involved in the film business. Accordingly, there are tons of cute showbiz/Shakespearian jokes in Act One—despite the arch dialogue, the film is as non-stuffy as it gets with its musical segments, smartphones, swearwords, references to other Shakespeare plays, Star Wars and a definition of an ass’s head that uses the not-animal definition of the word. You may object to the dialogue (and I did), but the irreverent style and stylish visuals certainly help—there are fair comparisons to be made here with Romeo + Juliet. While the film does lose steam once it heads out in the forest, there’s enough going on here to keep everyone invested. Writer-director Casey Wilder Mott must have a wild tale about how this film came together, but the result is hip, smart, funny, sexy and definitely worth a look. (Plus, Mia Doi Todd does look really nice here.) Amusingly enough given my praise, it took me three attempts to get through this film—I was exhausted the first time and shut it off, not feeling it the second time and stopped, but something kept me coming back and it finally clicked on the third go-around. Hopefully, it won’t take you as long to realize how good it is.