MUCH ADO ABOUT NOTHING (1993)

MUCH ADO ABOUT NOTHING (PG-13) Shot in a spectacular Tuscan villa, Kenneth Branagh's incandescent new Shakespeare movie is slathered with contemporary frosting: sun-drenched visuals, a cast of 500-watt (mostly American) stars. Branagh, though, has also found his way to the play's profound yet populist heart. As the proudly embattled Benedick and Beatrice, Branagh and Emma Thompson engage in some of the most enchanting flirtatious badinage since Katharine Hepburn introduced Cary Grant to a leopard named Baby. The central incident is a bit dawdling-Claudio (Robert Sean Leonard), the guileless young nobleman, is tricked into thinking that his true love has betrayed him-but the film recovers quite splendidly when Leonard discovers his life-denying mistake. A-

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