We were having a conversation with a film writer buddy the other day and both of us agreed: Richard Linklater must exist and people must keep financing his films. Even if all his pictures aren’t entirely successful. Which lets us easily segue into his latest film, “Me & Orson Welles,” which tells the story of a teenager that is cast in the Mercury Theater production of “Julius Caesar” directed by a young Orson Welles in 1937 and no, it’s not very successful, feels rather low-budget (terrible sets trying to pass off as New York) and is mostly uninspired.
At the risk of repeating ourselves ad-nauseum (and sounding like RL haters), the film is a forgettable, lite romp that reads and feels like a made-for-TV movie. This one limps into theaters a year later after its TIFF debut (sadly, no one was scrambling to release it). Christian Mckay does an admirable job as the haughty, self-involved young Orson Welles, and the studio hope is probably that the teenager, played by Zac Efron in the film, can lure in a few extra audience members.
However, it’s playing in very limited release and if it goes wide at all, we’ll be severely surprised (happy to be proven wrong). Claire Danes plays the sort-of love interest, but she’s a bit like charming wallpaper and is just sort of there. We like Linklater a lot, we’re rooting for the guy, but this might be his most unremarkable and minor work ever. Read our “full” review from the 2008 Toronto Film Festival.