Product Details

• Actors: Zac Efron, Christian McKay
• Directors: Richard Linklater
• Studio: Freestyle Releasing
• Run Time: 114 minutes
• Average Customer Review: 3.6 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (34 customer reviews)
• ASIN: B002VECM2W
• For more information about "Me and Orson Welles [Blu-ray]" visit the Internet Movie Database (IMDb)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

32 of 33 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A stunning performance!, December 30, 2009

By 

Chris Swanson "I'm just this guy, you know?" (Phoenix) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)    (TOP 500 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Me and Orson Welles [Blu-ray] (Blu-ray)

Orson Welles was a genius in many, many areas. He was an incredible actor, a brilliant director and a showman of the first order. He was also, from many accounts, a major jerk; obsessive and controlling, manipulative and unpleasant. Someone who at least as nasty to his friends as to his enemies. He was, to lift a quote from a certain movie, not a brutal man, but a man who did brutal things.

All these elements of his considerable personality are on display in Richard Linkletter's newest film, Me and Orson Welles. The movie tells the story of a seventeen-year-old boy named Richard (though he's mostly referred to as "Junior"). He's played by Zac Efron (looking sexier than ever), in his finest role to date, which isn't saying a lot.

Richard is a reasonably naive boy who winds up meeting Welles as the great man is preparing for his 1937 stage production of Julius Caesar, a ground-breaking presentation that moved the story into modern times, dressing the cast in fascist uniforms and casting an obvious Jew as the poet Cinna. Richard ends up in the play as a servant to Welles' Brutus, a role which requires him to learn to play the ukulele after claiming he already knew how.

Richard meets all the famous players of the Mercury Theatre, most notably Joseph Cotton, Norman Lloyd and George Coulouris. He also meets, and falls in love with, the beautiful Sonja Jones (Claire Danes). Like Richard, she's a fictional character, and also like Richard, she's far less interesting than the real characters around them.

The movie is completely stolen by Christian McKay's performance as Welles. It is as letter-perfect as any I've ever seen. He has the look, he has the voice and he has the attitude of Welles, playing him as a man who never bothered to merely speak when he could instead declaim. He simply is Welles, warts and all. Expect his performance to get a Best Supporting Actor nomination, and probable win, at the next Oscars.

This is probably the best movie I've seen this year, with Up in the Air as a very close second. The movie captures the spirit of the theatre and the character of Welles like no movie I've ever seen before. I cannot possibly praise it enough. It might be hard to find in your area (it's considered something of an art film), but if you can track it down, it's well worth seeing.

10 of 11 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars It's Welles' World and Everyone Else Just Exists in It Thanks to McKay's Masterful Turn, May 20, 2010

By 

Ed Uyeshima (San Francisco, CA USA) - See all my reviews
(TOP 500 REVIEWER)    (HALL OF FAME REVIEWER)    (VINE VOICE)    (2008 HOLIDAY TEAM)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Me and Orson Welles (DVD)

I wish this small-scale 2009 indie focused far more on the most charismatic person in the cast. Foreboding with a glaring certainty and a penchant for spewing venom at anyone he deems unworthy of his attention, Christian McKay makes the young Orson Welles come alive as the intimidating megalomaniac he had to have been to create a masterpiece like Citizen Kane. In 1937, he was only 22 when he mounted a contemporary version of Shakespeare's "Julius Caesar" with his legendary troupe, the Mercury Theater, which showcased his prodigious theatrical genius, and his idiosyncratic blend of swagger and insight transcended the backstage chaos that would yield a stage triumph. Welles was the type of man who would shower his cast with hyperbolic praise and then just as suddenly, crush them with harsh criticism.

However, director Richard Linklater (Dazed & Confused), usually not a specialist in period pieces, chooses to focus on the fictional character of 17-year-old Richard Samuels to carry the plot as he witnesses Welles' genius firsthand as a protégé-turned-actor. Filmmaker Cameron Crowe tried the same perspective shift in 2000's Almost Famous, but the device doesn't work as well this time. It's not that teen heartthrob Zac Efron is bad in the role. In fact, he brings an enthusiastic sincerity to his comparatively shallow role, but the dominance of McKay's towering performance provides an imbalance that is difficult to ignore. Holly Gent Palmo and Vince Palmo's screenplay focuses on Richard's brush with greatness during the process of making art, and cineastes will enjoy the likes of Joseph Cotten, John Houseman and George Colouris portrayed with relish and surprising accuracy by James Tupper, Eddie Marsan and Ben Chaplin, respectively.

Of course, there are women to complicate matters among the troupe, and Mercury production manager Sonja Jones is both a beguiling and ambitious presence that endlessly fascinates the actors swirling around her. Needless to say, Richard is smitten, but she has plans of her own to consider. Claire Danes gives a smart, incisive performance as Sonja, giving her more depth than one would expect from the story. Zoe Kazan bookends the movie as an aspiring writer who believes she has found a kindred artistic spirit in Richard. Laurence Dorman's production design and Dick Pope's cinematography deserve mention as the combination evokes the film's period setting with conviction. But this is McKay's movie all the way and well worth seeing for his astonishing turn.

9 of 10 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars A tour de force by Christian Mckay, February 21, 2010

By 

Balaji Rajam "Wannabe Reviewer" (San Jose, CA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Me and Orson Welles (DVD)

Richard Linklater has always been one with an ear for the gab. In his movies dialogues don't just exist to fill in the silent moments, but they are there because it reflects the feel of the movie and the ethos of the character. This movie is no exception. It reminds you of the 50s and 60s where the banter and repartee was a marked characterstic of Bogart movies.

Christian Mckay is a revelation. As Orson Welles, he brings every bit of the gravitas, arrogance and brilliance that the role demands. He moves effortlessly among the various skins of Orson Welles - from the stubborn artist to the brilliant actor and everything in between.

Apart from McKay, Claire Danes is wonderful as the career minded icequeen. Zac Efron is passable as the rookie.

Definitely worth a watch