Juliet & Romeo, 2025.
Written and Directed by Timothy Scott Bogart.
Starring Clara Rugaard, Jamie Ward, Jason Isaacs, Dan Fogler, Rebel Wilson, Rupert Everett, Derek Jacobi, Lidia Vitale, Ferdia Walsh-Peelo, Nicholas Podany, Tayla Parx, Jim Sheridan, Dennis Andres, Rupert Graves, Jordan Clark Ledis, Martina Ortiz Luis, Lexie Coons, Clodagh Amira Sheridan, Max C. Parker, and Sara Lazzaro.
SYNOPSIS::
Based on the real story that inspired William Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet, follows the greatest love story of all time, set as an original pop musical.
There is no single redeemable quality or reason for Juliet & Romeo to exist. Sure, the idea of an adaptation of William Shakespeare’s play promising more focus on Juliet is momentarily intriguing until remembering that it has been done before. The same goes for writer/director Timothy Scott Bogart’s concept to play this one out as something more modern, featuring everyday English and nonstop, invasive pop ballads, mostly brings to mind Baz Luhrmann’s take on the material (which already isn’t that good).
There are also script flourishes here and there seemingly designed to insult the original text, not necessarily in a manner of wildly changing around the plot (although that is terribly executed here too), but taking jabs at Shakespeare’s poetic writing, prose, and literature itself. It’s no exaggeration to say that this film is an affront to everything William Shakespeare accomplished with Romeo & Juliet and its timeless endurance.
To clarify, the Baz Luhrmann interpretation is at least watchable. Nearly every second of Juliet & Romeo is insufferable, entirely stripped of feeling, characterization, chemistry, and escalating tension between the Montagues and Capulets in favor of aggressively obnoxious autotuneed original pop songs (courtesy of Evan Bogart and Justin Gray), with choreography and lyrics that don’t even seem to understand what musicals are about fundamentally.
Romeo & Juliet is filled with secrecy and longing, the material that lends itself to musicals since they are ostensibly about breaking into song and dancing to voice feelings for what can’t be said. Here, it’s an excuse for wall-to-wall empty, hollow songs. Technically, this is fitting since stars Clara Rugaard and Jamie Ward aren’t giving real performances; it’s the classic case of two attractive people pining over one another, except, in most cases, some sizzle or something is magnetizing us to that romance. Again, storytelling and characterization are an afterthought here. Perhaps Timothy Scott Bogart knows everyone already knows this story, but that doesn’t mean another adaptation should abandon those key elements.
The bafflingly bad music also extends to the supporting cast, including Dan Fogler’s take on the Apothecary. It’s a number intentionally set up to allude to the twist Timothy Scott Bogart has in store for the star-crossed lovers, which is made more confounding during the finale when the film plays this out as if it’s meant to be shocking. What anyone thought at any given point while making Juliet & Romeo is a mystery.
A decent supporting cast (including familiar faces such as Rebel Wilson and Jason Isaacs) is also wasted, with the entire ensemble fitted inside amateurish costume design resembling a weak attempt at cosplay. When tragedy within each family results from the forbidden love between Julia and Romeo, none of it carries any emotional weight. No one is given the opportunity to play a different or familiar take on any of these characters; it’s all white noise and outweighed by endless pop music.
The only actor giving a passable performance here is Derek Jacoby as the friar aware of their love, contemplating how to help them, and if the Montagues and Capulets could ever find peace and unite against the invading Roman Catholics. Admittedly, there is a mild entertainment factor to how insultingly awful Juliet & Romeo is, like a film poisoned from its inception.
Flickering Myth Rating – Film: ★ / Movie: ★ ★
Robert Kojder is a member of the Chicago Film Critics Association, Critics Choice Association, and Online Film Critics Society. He is also the Flickering Myth Reviews Editor. Check here for new reviews and follow my BlueSky or Letterboxd
