If it’s been done do death, and done to death, and done to death, why not do it one more time, right? Well that has to be the process behind the reasoning why Timothy Scott Bogart decided to remake Romeo and Juliet, but call it Juliet and Romeo with some massive changes to the story and the way its presented, and while absolutely none of this works on any front and it is extra ordinally insane and unbelievable, there is a chance this gets a second life like CATS did and The Room – it’s just so astonishingly maddening that you have to see it to believe it honestly exists.
The movie, as usual, sets focus on Juliet (Clara Rugaard) and Romeo (Jamie Ward) as they fall in love as star crossed lovers again. Joining them for the ride is Lord Montague (Jason Isaacs), Lady Capulet (Rebel Wilson), Lord Capulet (Rupert Everett), Friar Lawrence (Derek Jacobi), Apothecary (Dan Fogel), Rosaline (Tayla Parx), and the rest of the cast we’ve come to love over the course of modern time. While the story takes a lot of creative liberties with the Shakespeare tale and is set to pop music to give it something new (though not as good or catchy as the musical &Juliet) it just fails to capture any form of magic that other incarnations have done. It’s admirable in trying to do *something* for one of the most well known Shakespearean stories – but it just is a hot mess that falls apart at almost every turn unfortunately making this something so astonishingly shocking to watch that it almost doesn’t feel real at times.
Rounding out the absurdity, comes some of the casting choices. If you’re going to make a Romeo and Juliet musical, and call it Juliet and Romeo it would be best to give the entire cast something to sing, and that’s not the case. This is almost as egregious when you cast someone people know in a semi-prominent role and don’t give them a song – looking directly at Jason Isaacs – he doesn’t sing at any point; and to be fair I don’t know if he ever has sung before would be weird to cast someone of his stature and not give him a song – we had to have Russell Crowe sing, we could’ve had Jason Isaacs too. Clara and Ward are excellent singers and make the most out of their performances but it’s truly something so baffling it has to be seen to be believed. Rounding this out between Rebel Wilson and Dan Fogel, the latter of which I didn’t know sang has a multitude of songs and a baffling subplot.
Overall, Juliet and Romeo tells audiences the story we’ve come to know and love with a lot of changes that will leave the audience absolutely dumbfounded and confused as to what on earth happened. The ending isn’t a new take either, as other versions of this Shakespearean tale have done it – just the way this is done is arguably the most baffling. The best part of Juliet & Romeo is truly that one day Jason Mantzoukas, June Diane Raphael, and Paul Scheer are inevitably one day going to ask the question of HOW DID THIS GET MADE?
