I haven't seen this for a few years and took it out for another viewing. This really is a tremendous film on many levels. The characters really really come alive. Zac Efron creates his own character in this film and well done. The roles created by Christian McKay (Orson Welles) James Tupper (Joseph Cotton)and Eddie Marsan (John Houseman) are superb. Any fan of old films will know how well they really nailed these characters. The rest of the cast was also superb. I like the story. Nice kid gets a break - but those ARE the breaks in the end. The costumes and art direction was excellent. Always enjoy scenes were the create an entire busy street but of days gone by. All in all one of my favourite films.

A great cast and superb performances, make this film a great treat for acting.A film on Orson Welles the great himself is bound to be something interesting. Now, this film treats Orson in a way that we dare to have known him. The film is based on Robert Kaplow's novel of the same name. And here, our Orson is a psychopath who is hell bent on deriving what he needs from anyone. He uses everyone and to us them , he goes to any extent. Wow, what an acting by Christian McKay as Orson Welles. McKay breathes life into a great character and makes it his own by a stellar performance. Zac Efron, the blue eyed boy plays Richard who is finds his real self, and learns that if he believes in something, he can do it. Now, the writing and screenplay are do well here. And most of all, the art direction is superb, it's clean with hardly any showiness, that is I mean, here the world seems real like the one in 1937. Look at the zooming out final shot from the steps, where we see that it's so very fine and good looking from above. Wish to be at such places in such an era where life was slow paced and more lovely than now. Richard Linklater has given us different kind of movie, from Dazed and Confused to now, and he simply continues to surprise us with this one too. Since I have seen it for first time, I was amused by the ending, coz it simply stops with nothing much happening. Richard has found the True Orson and it end there, no more taking it forward. Yeah, if this had to be the ending, I wish it was more cut down and less in time. As the title line says, "All is fair in Love and Theatre", I say, all is fair for Orson and for his theatre. He is devilishly passionate about his work. He is extremely shrewd and exquisitely specific about everything he does, here he does a play Julius Caesar. He demands respect and he never forgets to ask that either. A complete narcissist you see at times, who loves himself and his job, and yes even a secretary at times. Now, editing would have been more crispier and had the subject been more focused on the objectivity of Orson rather than on how Richard was being treated, this would have been a finer film. Having said that, I like how Richard Linklater and I give it a 4/5 rating. It's kind of a coming of new age feel good film that is set in 1930's,Though it's for you to decide, do see it please for Chrsitian McKay's performance alone.

Christian McKay really captures the essence of Orson Welles in this lovingly made film. You really can't call it a biopic, since it covers only a brief period of the man's life, but to see and hear this man play Welles is to see him in real life. Zac Efron does his usual good job playing the starry-eyed youth who is about to get an unpleasant dose of reality. The period stuff is first-rate and really gives you a feel that this is 1937 when you watch it. There is a rich selection of vintage 1930s music, all seemingly correct for the period. The supporting cast are all first-rate as well, and the film's color is bathed in a rich, warm glow that adds to the feel of the piece. This is a worthwhile film for students of theater as well as of cinema.

Okay, start with one of the most interesting and influential characters in film. Make a film that has him in it. Take one of the most interesting and theatrical productions in theater, present it is as film and make the same film about its inception including chaos, the various seductions of the players and some presentation of his bellicose leadership. Hang the thing on a story of callow discovery and you may have something. But alas, this almost succeeds on every score and it makes us unhappy because from the first we expect something worthy. We expect to be immersed somehow. "Cradle will Rock" succeeded in that respect where this did not.One problem is there is no sense of the inner composition in Welles' mind. Sure we find he is oafish, appetite driven, needlessly obnoxious. But for each of these, there should be some window into what matters, what we came for. It sure wasn't hearing about a kid's screwups.The impression fostered throughout is that some combination of accident, unsophisticated audience and dedicated cast/crew made the production a success. I saw this with "Hamlet 2" and as bad as that was, it was better in key ways. Above all, it tried.Ted's Evaluation -- 1 of 3: You can find something better to do with this part of your life.