The To Do List

While Rush Limbaugh loudly grouses about his disbelief that women need birth control and our nation watches one bill after another restrict access to abortion, it’s been a particularly rough time for women’s sexuality.

So what’s Hollywood’s answer to conservative fears that women will start becoming more loose and free-wheeling with their naughty bits? By giving them a movie of exactly that.

Brandi Klark (Aubrey Plaza, Safety Not Guaranteed and TV’s Parks and Recreation) has just graduated from high school as valedictorian, and she’s ready for anything — except sex. Or anything in that ballpark, really. After a brush with opportunity at a kegger in the form of Rusty (Scott Porter TV’s Friday Night Lights), she decides enough is enough. With her usual academic vigor, Brandy creates a list of activities she intends to complete by the end of the summer with the closest willing subject.

The film is set in 1993, so it’s not like she can just Google what any of these “jobs” are. It manages to move past the nostalgic ’90s quaintness early on, abandoning obvious jabs at things like VHS tapes and Encyclopedia Britannicas in favor of smarter jests, with assistance from Brandy’s gaggle of informed female friends.

One of the best things about her advisers — and “The To Do List” in general — is the refreshing reality endued in every role. Writer-director Maggie Carey allegedly mined her own personal experiences for the film, and it pays off in sincerity. With this style comes the delightful awkwardness of adolescence and sexual exploration, filled with embarrassment, joy, and every learning curve in between.

Like most films focused on teen sex, “The To Do List” can prematurely jump to gross-out comedy, which makes for a slightly uneven feel. It’s dispiriting, sure, but not distracting. When “The To Do List” is at its best, it sits back and lets the cast work its comedic magic with various physical gags and sexual knowledge.

Any awkward wrinkles in the script are helped by the all-star cast, most notably Bill Hader (Forgetting Sarah Marshall, Superbad) as Brandy’s slacker boss and Connie Britton (TV’s Spin City, and American Horror Story) and Clark Gregg (Avengers, Much Ado About Nothing) as her parents (who don’t exactly see eye-to-eye on sexual experiences). And the cast is led, of course, by Plaza’s delightfully detached comedic style.

Plaza brings a deadpan innocence to Brandy as she sets out to take her V-card by storm like many a teen-romp hero in the past. She’s a novel heroine, whose sexual agency and decision making is purely her own, and Plaza makes her independence feel refreshingly true and youthful.

The film’s too uneven to be the best teen-sex comedy ever made. But clearly its heart — and at its best moments, its mind — are in the right place. Like Brandy’s sexual misadventures, it’s not going to please everyone. But there is surely fun to be had along the way.

Verdict: While a bit sophomoric, the cast’s performance and Carey’s direction more than make the grade.

Much Ado About Nothing

Birds do it, bees do it, even Kenneth Branagh did it back in 1993. And now, coming off of the action-blockbuster bonanza that was “The Avengers,” Joss Whedon has modestly adapted the Shakespeare comedy “Much Ado About Nothing” for the screen. 

For those who aren’t familiar: “Much Ado About Nothing” is a classic Shakespeare comedy filled with hijinks and deception. Benedick (Alexis Denisof) and Beatrice (Amy Acker) have a complicated relationship, in which they renounce the concept of love and engage in a “merry war” of witty banter. 

While awaiting the nuptials of Beatrice’s cousin, young Hero (Jillian Morgese) to Benedick’s friend Claudio (Fran Kranz), their friends mischievously decide to get Beatrice and Benedick to admit their feelings for each other. But there’s trouble brewing underneath all the merriment, and soon the group finds themselves on quite the emotional roller coaster. 

However timeless the work may be, “Much Ado About Nothing” hinges on a lot of aged Shakespearean elements. Between the unfamiliar language and values, it would be easy for modern audiences to feel too alienated by the text, no matter how quick the banter. Whedon’s work is often grounded in his own linguistic style, but by opting to stay true to the original Shakespearean dialogue, he still manages a stylish and uncluttered update that makes an archaic story more palatable to film-goers. 

Whedon creates a more sultry interpretation, rife with humor, nuances, and a jazzy soundtrack, adding in a few elements of his own to make the laughs land and lovers’ pride real. Shot in black and white, the film has a modest but elegant tone, enhancing the modern scene-setting but still allowing the dialogue to shine on its own.

And shine it does, thanks to the delightful cast of Whedon veterans. Acker and Denisof are impeccable in their stubborn banter, injecting real sensuality into the bard’s tale. Nathan Fillion is brilliant as the bumbling but assured Dogberry, reimagined as a tough-minded but buffoonish detective. 

The performances aren’t perfect, however — these aren’t seasoned Shakespearean actors — although they come close. The film was shot in only 12 days entirely in Whedon’s house, and the simplicity shows. It doesn’t reinvent the text, but it wears its oddly appropriate time shift respectably. 

“Much Ado About Nothing” feels a lot like seeing an intimate Shakespeare in the Park performance with some Whedon favorites. Audiences are more up close and personal than they might usually be (an aspect of film Whedon plays to his advantage to portray the couple’s intimacy), and the film is accessible to Shakespearean scholars and laypeople alike. 

More than anything else, the movie is fun. It’s clear that Whedon and his cast think highly of the bard and his work, and their energy is what brings the movie to life. As a film, “Much Ado About Nothing” might not bring much to the table. But as an adaptation, Whedon’s take on the bard is brimming with enough comedic and clever chemistry to make sure audiences care a lot about nothing.

The verdict: It might not be thought of as the definitive “Much Ado” adaptation, but it brings life and a modern twist to the classic tale.