Me and Orson Welles

The travel-minded director Richard Linklater has made what could have been weak and phony, a wonderful film. ME AND ORSON WELLES is not so unlike his earlier films which transport us to a place and time and watch its characters move around that place and time. But in ME AND ORSON WELLES we inhabit the 1930's with more of an idea than a genuine feel. Injections of swing music, omnipresent hats and trenchcoats and the word: swell, only make us begin to believe in the place and time. But RL's injection of Christian McKay as the genius Orson Welles is what makes his film great. It often plays like an inspirational schoolboy drama, with the dreamy-eyed Zac Efron as a young actor basking in the creative light of Welles. Even events and sayings within the film play as if it belongs in TO SIR, WITH LOVE or some british boarding house drama. But Christian McKay and how RL directs him is so perfect that we believe or even want to believe that this is how Welles was. He gets the voice perfectly, but doesn't make a show of it. ME AND ORSON WELLES is a wonderfully directed and acted film.
Me and Orson Welles: ★★★★