Much Ado About Nothing (1993 Film) - Plot

Plot

Don Pedro (Denzel Washington) and his noblemen are visiting their good friend Leonato (Richard Briers) in Messina after having quashed the uprising led by Don John (Keanu Reeves), the prince's bastard half-brother. Among the victors are the misogynistic and witty Benedick (Kenneth Branagh), erstwhile flame of Leonato's equally sharp-tongued and somewhat fierce niece, Beatrice (Emma Thompson), who is something of a misandrist, and Benedick's "sworn brother" Claudio (Robert Sean Leonard), a young count. Claudio has been thinking fondly of Leonato's gentle and lovely daughter Hero (Kate Beckinsale) since before he went to war, and returns to find her as attractive as ever. Don Pedro, learning of his young friend's feelings, arranges the match at a party. Despite Don John's best efforts to foil it, the Prince's plan works out perfectly in the end. Needing something to pass the time until the wedding day, Don Pedro decides to arrange a similar fate for Beatrice and Benedick. Of course, both parties being such “professed tyrant” to the opposite sex, this match will take a little more ingenuity.

Leonato, Claudio and the Prince stage a loud conversation containing a fictitious account of how much Beatrice is in love with Benedick; all the while, knowing Benedick to be hiding well within earshot. Hero and her gentlewoman Ursula play the same trick upon Beatrice. Each of them believes the story they hear about the other. In the midst of all of this good-natured scheming, Don John and his men have been casting about for ways to stop the intended marriage between the man who “hath all the glory of overthrow” and the woman for whom one may suspect he has cherished some tender feeling. The night before the wedding, his servant Borachio arranges to meet with Hero's gentlewoman Margaret at Hero's chamber window. John shows his half-brother and Claudio the rendezvous and makes them believe that they are seeing Hero in the act of infidelity. Against the revelry of the evening, the constable Dogberry (Michael Keaton) appoints a watch to keep the peace. The three hapless watchmen happen to hear Borachio bragging to his colleague Conrade about how he and Don John had finally succeeded in wrecking the wedding plans. They make the arrest and send Dogberry in the morning to fetch Leonato for the examination, but the old gentleman is in too much of a hurry to try to decipher what the constable would say to him. Amidst the confusion, the villain has managed to escape to parts unknown before he can get his comeuppance.

At the wedding, Claudio publicly disgraces his would-be bride and storms away along with all of the guests except for Ursula, the Friar, Leonato, Beatrice, her father Antonio, and Benedick. They all agree to the Friar's plan to publish the tale that Hero, upon the grief of Claudio's accusations, suddenly died. Beatrice and Benedick linger a moment, and wind up confessing their love to one another. In the wake of this declaration, Beatrice asks Benedick to do the one thing that will satisfy her outrage with what has just happened; she asks him to kill Claudio. He agrees, but it is with a heavy heart. Just after the challenge is issued, the story of Don John's deception comes to light, and the Prince and Claudio are sorely grieved for their grave mistake. Leonato forgives Claudio on the condition that he marry Hero's cousin on the next morning. Claudio agrees. When the bride is brought forth, she is revealed to be none other than Hero herself. They then profess their true and undying love for each other, as do Beatrice and Benedick when faced with written evidence (acquired and produced by Hero and Claudio) found in the pockets of each, Benedick's in the form of an endearingly poorly-written song. All are reconciled and Don John is discovered and promised punishment. The film ends with the whole of Leonato's household dancing in the courtyard, with the newlyweds at the center of them.