Me and Orson Welles

Teen-star Zac Efron, best known for the High School Musical movies, is ill-served both by screenplay and director in this fictional account of a young actor's brief encounter with theatrical genius Orson Welles (Christian McKay). Efron is Richard, a wannabe actor who lucks into a small role in Welles's famous 1937 production of Julius Caesar, and in the process falls for ambitious company member Sonja (Claire Danes) who also happens to be involved with Welles. Linklater, the indie director of Dazed and Confused, who hit the big time with The School of Rock, never seems to get to grips with his actors and leaves Efron, who is capable of being a perfectly acceptable screen presence, high and dry. The highlight is McKay, who conjures the bluster and charisma of Welles, as well as bearing an uncanny physical resemblance to the boy-genius. But the screenplay reveals little about his mercurial character, and the youthful romance is blandly unconvincing.