MIchael Keaton as Dogberry...
...absolutely stole the show. Hilarious.
"Who's more foolish? The fool or the fool that follows him?"
I'm afraid that I didn't like him at all - so little, in fact, that when I watch the film, which is one of my top favourites, I usually fast-forward his scenes.
It should be considered - Dogberry is funny, yes, but he's funny because he takes himself very seriously. I don't think he should be clowning around pretending to ride horses, or beating up the unfortunate Verges. And of course the lines that people have quoted on here that 'cracked them up' are Shakespeare's lines, the actor can hardly take the credit.
^^ This.
One of my favorite acting stories ever: Alfred Lunt and Lynne Fontanne, Broadway's ruling couple, were in a play in which Lunt's character had to ask for a cup of tea, which, in context, was absolutely absurd. Lunt wasn't getting the laugh, no matter how hard he tried. One day, Fontanne said, "Alfred, instead of asking for a laugh, why don't you try asking for a cup of tea?" He did, and the audience roared.
Keaton, a wonderful and very funny actor, here does nothing but beg for laughs - but there is no underpinning of truth to make the comedy real and, hence, funny.
Also, Dogberry is an ass, but we shouldn't sympathize with Conrade when he says so. Here, I do.
Oh, right. So, she secretly trained a flock of sandflies.
Count me in with those who can't stand Keaton's performance (and who fast-forward past it!)
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