Juliet & Romeo

You'll either love or hate this movie, based on the reviews it's getting. It's only loosely based on Shakespeare's play so throw that expectation out. On the positive side, the production value is good and it has Derek Jacoby in a major role, a good sign. But you know it's sus when the writer, director, and producer are the same person (a Bogart) and another Bogart is an additional producer as well as responsible for writing all the songs, of which there were way too many and they sounded all the same. At one point one of the main characters was unconscious and I was thinking "well at least she won't sing now" but I was sadly disappointed. If you like a lot of pop songs mixed in with the plot, you might go for this. Personally I enjoyed a silent car ride home after the movie. Tip: Ask for a subtitle machine at the theater because otherwise you might not be able to catch all the dialogue.

There are some positives to this film: Costume design Scenery/staging Some of the cast - Derek Jacobi is a National Treasure, so we must assume that he was on holiday when his agent signed him up for this and you have to wonder how badly the Ruperts (Everett and Graves) needed the money but Jeremy Isaacs can have no excuse - he seems to be in everything these days.

But so much that is wrong (or downright bad) that it's difficult to know where to begin... The continuous intrusive music score - it's bad enough that it's there and I can't find words to stress the lie of "the greatest music of our time" (IMDb quote) but it's worse because cinemas turn the volume up so much. It is constant and drowns out much of the awful ...

Dialogue - trying desperately to hint back to Shakespeare and failing at every turn. There's even a moment when one of the cast says "oh wait" before delivering half a line from The Bard. And then there are the ...

Accents. OK so 14th century Verona would be a bit of a melting pot of cultures but Jeremy Isaacs' fake Yorkshire accent is just distracting even given everyone changing to American accents when they sing.

But the scrapings from the bottom of the barrel must be the total lack of chemistry between Juliet and Romeo. So little chemistry that no amount of their bad acting can make even a glimmer of a spark. It's actually a relief when they "die" (though being unconscious can't stop them singing)

At 2hrs 2mins of life that you will never get back, this is definitely one to miss but there's a closing threat of "to be continued..."

Was surprised how well they did with the music that they advertised as modern.

Jamie Ward as Romero and Clara Rugaard as Juliet give a very good performance as the title characters, with great show of emotions through their acting that added tot heir characters.

Seeing Rebel Wilson in a non-comedic role was something to get used to, but, she did a very good job with the Lady Capulet character

This is the classic story, very good acting and songs. The songs did the story justice and I am already looking to get a copy of the soundtrack.

The continual telling of Romeo and Juliet in different versions with different settings never gets old and this version continues that line of success with a twist I will not tell as it is something you will need to see.

If you enjoy Romeo and Juliet, I would highly reccomend this movie to you.

Please save yourself the time- this is truly a mess. Abysmal. Can't decide what it wants to be. Inauthentic. I could go on. This doesn't even get close to explaining how unwatchable this film is. Who wanted HIGH SCHOOL MUSIC meets ROMEO AND JULIET? I can't begin to imagine.

The one star is for Derek Jacobi - how on earth did they ever get him? He is fun to watch even if the rest of the movie is complete swill.

I also think someone should explain to the people who made this film that no one is interested in this being a series (hopefully the box office numbers already made this decision for them).

There are so, so many reasons this movie was a failure that to enumerate them would be an exercise in exhaustion. I think the most annoying part was also the most ridiculous: everyone talked in different accents, and sang in others. For example, Romeo and Juliet both use something like RP or a southern English accent, but Romeo's father uses a distinct Northern English brogue. Juliet's parents sound the same as her, for whatever reason. Other characters' accents are undeniably American, though we are supposed to believe they're all (or mostly) native residents of the same city. To confuse matters further, everyone sings in an American accent!

As for the rest, the music was poorly written and just as poorly produced, the script (all modern English) was practically phoned in, and the cinematography was amateurish. The worst offense, however, was a complete disregard for key character moments and interactions that lovers of Shakespeare cherish from the original play. Phrases and lines from the source text are haphazardly re-contextualized-and delivered so carelessly-that they lose their original power, poetry, and philosophical punch. After close to an hour of watching this joke of a production, I decided to revoke the rest of the time I had originally entrusted to the film (during the apothecary's song, if that matters). Maybe that undercuts the validity of my review, but I don't care. Enduring the rest of that awful movie isn't worth bolstering the arguments of an online review that hardly anyone will read.

In fairness, I liked the imagery of the musical scene where the main characters have parted ways from the church but are still together "in their hearts," or whatever, but ONLY on an aesthetic level, because everything else about that scene is creatively tragic.