Writer and Director: Timothy Scott Bogart (adapted from Romeo and Juliet by William Shakespeare)
One of Shakespeare’s best loved plays, Romeo and Juliet, has serious pedigree when it comes to tempting film-makers. The traditionalists (Franco Zeffirelli’s 1968 classic); the revisionists (Baz Luhrmann’s high-octane Romeo + Juliet); the origin story (Shakespeare in Love). The lure of the star-crossed lovers, a perfectly crafted story of doomed love, is irresistible. We have heightened emotions against the backdrop of forteenth-century Italy. Romance and intrigue. Families at war. It’s pretty hard to mess it up.
But not impossible. With this latest screen adaptation, Juliet & Romeo, aims to deliver a pinch of the traditional, mixed together with modern dialogue and pop music. It should work: J+R, a feisty introduction tailor-made for the Tik Tok generation. Unfortunately, what writer and director Timothy Scott Bogart has created is a lumpy, lacklustre film that wastes its starry cast.
The film starts off with good intentions. There is an attempt to place Juliet & Romeo in its political context. Papal authority from Rome comes pressing at Verona’s city walls. Alliances must be forged between ducal families. The Montagues and Capulets hatch plans. We meet Romeo (Jamie Ward) as he saunters through the markets of downtown Verona, pocketing an illicit copy of Dante on the way. He spots Juliet (Clara Rugaard, gamely channelling Julia Stiles) returning home from posh-girl boarding school. Their eyes meet, there is some woeful teenage flirting. And then the songs begin.
For anyone over the age of 30, you will become convinced you are listening on repeat. Sung in a transatlantic twang, the music is derivative, homogeneous pop. The songs, coupled with enthusiastic choreography, leave no impression whatsoever. A successful musical needs a standout moment. There is no Defying Gravity, no Waving Through A Window. Zero emotional hook: everything flatlines.
The worst aspect of this film is how it treats its cast. Somehow assembling Shakespearean titan Derek Jacobi, alongside Rupert Everett, Jason Isaacs and Rebel Wilson, these actors are given precious little to do. Jacobi really does try his best to turn the dirge-like dialogue into something that breathes a bit of life. He is determined to make the material work. Rupert Everett, perhaps more wisely, realises he is better off keeping his head down and thinking of the pay cheque. But it’s not a CV clunker for everyone: Nicholas Podany shines as a charismatic Mercutio; Sara Lazzaro as the Nurse is refreshingly, beautifully understated.
While this was never going to be a film for the Romeo and Juliet purists, there is definitely scope for a contemporary musical. The problem with Juliet & Romeo is it can’t decide how much of the original material to keep and what to eject. The result is a confused mismatch of twenty-first-century dialogue with fourteenth-century visuals. It borrows from Zeffirelli and Luhrmann, but has no ideas of its own. The film finishes on a chilling note. Timothy Scott Bogart is clearly confident of a box office success, and promotes this as the start of a Shakespearean trilogy. You have been warned.
Juliet & Romeo will be in UK Cinemas for One Night Only on 11th June.
