Me & Orson Welles

Before creating his 1941 cinematic masterpiece Citizen Kane, Orson Welles revolutionized New York theater and radio. Set in 1937, Me & Orson Welles is a coming-of-age story about 17-year-old drama buff Richard Samuels (Zac Efron), who spends a few days in the company of 22-year-old Welles (Christian McKay) as he stages a modern-dress version of Julius Caesar at the newly formed Mercury Theatre that he founded with John Houseman. After performing an impetuous, curbside audition for Welles, Richard lands a bit part and is catapulted into the intoxicating, creative world inhabited by Welles's ambitious assistant, Sonja Jones (Claire Danes), who coolly informs the lad that he will receive no money, “just the opportunity to be sprayed by Orson's spit.” Based on Robert Kaplow's meticulously researched young-adult novel, director Richard Linklater's film adroitly places the fictional Richard into a realistic context, but while the behind-the-scenes vignettes are fascinating, the awkward romantic subplot involving Richard and Sonja flounders. Worse, Disney High School Musical star Efron doesn't effectively convey the transformational emotional arc of his character. What saves the film, however, is McKay's astounding physical resemblance to Welles coupled with his spellbinding impersonation. Recommended, overall. (S. Granger)