Much Ado About Nothing, the long-awaited collaboration between geek-guru Joss Whedon and William Shakespeare is finally hitting theaters – and there are a few surprises in store for fans of both the modern and Elizabethan greats.

Joss Whedon’s Much Ado About Nothing is by turns a faithful and innovative adaptation of William Shakespeare’s much-loved play. Filmed over the course of 11 days in Whedon’s own home, the film straddles the lines between thoughtful and blithe, between uproariously hilarious and dangerously moody. No stranger to complicated material, Whedon’s formula for Much Ado About Nothing turns out to be both challenging and highly rewarding as viewers follow the story of wit-wielding lovers and painful misunderstanding.

The cast – built largely of familiar faces from Joss Whedon’s various projects – is uniformly strong, especially where it counts the most. Amy Acker is breathtaking as Beatrice; she eyes the world around her with a stubbornly cynical gaze, but it’s clear that she is secretly hungry to be proven wrong. Alexis Denisof is also effective as her counterpart Benedick, though he swings between looseness and solemnity in a way that can seem uneven at times. Clark Gregg does excellent work in the role of Leonato, presenting a blithe attitude so natural that it is deeply upsetting to watch him shatter in rage and grief in one of the film’s pivotal scenes.

And enough praise cannot be heaped upon Nathan Fillion in his turn as the ridiculous constable Dogberry. His pomposity is perfectly tuned, but never grating; Fillion plays Dogberry with such a wide-eyed earnesty and pluck that he becomes as loveable as he is bombastic. Tom Lenk is also pitch-perfect as Dogberry’s sidekick Vegres, his drawling comments punctuating Dogberry’s grand proclamations and building a delicious rhythm for the play’s most blatantly comic scenes.

The text of Much Ado About Nothing for the most part molds well to Whedon’s treatment, though he makes several interesting staging choices in his interpretation. Whedon keeps the camera’s eye on as much of the cast as possible, which allows for subtle glances traded between characters to take on a more potent meaning as the events of the play unfold – especially evident in the case of Don John’s (Sean Maher) minion Borachio (Spencer Treat Clarke) and his relationships with Hero (Jillian Morgese) and Margaret (Ashley Johnson.) Similarly, Whedon’s decision to cast John’s other nefarious friend Conrade with the (female) Rikki Lindhome pays off in surprising ways, creating an unexpected arc for an otherwise minor character.

Perhaps Whedon’s most impactful choice is the decision to explicitly establish a previous romantic relationship between Beatrice and Benedick. Though this is hinted at in the text by Beatrice (she admits to Pedro that she had once “lent” Benedick her heart), Whedon begins his film with a silent scene of Benedick quietly leaving Beatrice the morning after a sexual encounter. Though this uncomfortable prequel makes it easier to develop Beatrice and Benedick’s eventual path to long-lasting love, it also establishes the tone of their banter as initially frustrated and even bitter.

Beatrice and Benedick’s relationship hits a harsh nadir as Hero and Claudio reach their zenith; what can be played as an exhausted lull between the two becomes almost venomous (“I cannot endure my lady tongue,” Benedick spits right at Beatrice, though it is she he refers to). Still, the tenderness later exhibited between the two characters (helped along by a few edits to the text) brings to a close a more complete – though also more uncomfortable – arc than Beatrice and Benedick often receive in more traditional stagings of the play.

It is this uncomfortable quality that makes Joss Whedon’s Much Ado About Nothing a film that is quintessentially “Joss.” In nearly all of his work, Whedon exhibits a terrific skill at manipulating his audience to feel exactly as his characters do (which frequently means they feel very uncomfortable). The “going” gets rough in any production of this play, but Joss Whedon’s Much Ado About Nothing communicates every wince, disappointment, and crumbled dream with an irresistible empathy.

Not that Much Ado About Nothing is by any means a meloncholy experience. Even the soft black-and-white film can’t mute the exuberance Whedon finds in the messy mechanics of love – or the loveliness of Whedon’s California estate which serves as the setting. (Another credit to the direction is that though the environment is sprawling and airy, the atmosphere is still appropriately claustrophobic when it needs to be.)

Overall, Much Ado About Nothing is a sultry and unexpectedly lively experience. A dream marriage of literary and pop-culture geekdom, Joss Whedon handles one of the Bard’s finest comedies which his signature wry touch, and brings a terrific cast to the project. Fans of Whedon and of Shakespeare should be more than satisfied – and hopeful that this first collaboration between the two creative greats will not be the last.

Grade: A-

Rated: PG-13

Joss Whedon’s Much Ado About Nothing opens in theaters nationwide on June 21, 2013.