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Mixed or average reviews - based on 20 Critics What's this?

User Score

Generally favorable reviews- based on 25 Ratings

  • Starring: Claire Danes, Leonardo DiCaprio
  • Summary: Baz Luhrmann's dazzling and unconventional adaptation of William Shakespeare's classic love story is spellbinding. Leonardo DiCaprio and Claire Danes portray Romeo and Juliet, the youthful star-crossed lovers of the past who now meet in the futuristic urban backdrop of Verona Beach. Their two rival families, the Montaques and the Capulets, are now gangs and every other aspect of life surrounding Romeo and Juliet's tragic love affair has moved from its Elizabethan origins to a decidedly contemporary, brilliantly stylized reality. (Fox) Expand
Score distribution:
  1. Positive: 12 out of 20
  2. Negative: 2 out of 20
  1. 100
    Amid the clamor from outraged purists and Shakespeare spinning in his Stratford-on-Avon, England, grave, you should notice that Luhrmann and his two bright angels have shaken up a 400-year-old play without losing its touching, poetic innocence.
  2. Reviewed by: Bob McCabe
    80
    Baz Luhrmann takes the audience on a unique ride through one of the Bard's best-known texts, illuminating the story, occasionally subjugating the language but always delivering a vision that is bold, brassy, hugely inventive and accessible and, in a strange way, just right.
  3. Mr. Luhrmann's frenetic hodgepodge actually amounts to a witty and sometimes successful experiment, an attempt to reinvent "Romeo and Juliet" in the hyperkinetic vocabulary of post-modern kitsch. This is headache Shakespeare, but there's method to its madness.
  4. 30
    It would be destined for the trash heap of Shakespeare adaptations, if not for its female lead, and its heart, 17-year-old Claire Danes.

See all 20 Critic Reviews

Score distribution:
  1. Positive: 5 out of 11
  2. Negative: 4 out of 11
  1. jess
    10
    I think this beautiful adaptation gets no justice, the melodic storytelling and dramatic performances don't seem out of place in this tragic film, it keeps to the Shakespearean roots by maintaining the language which in its form sounds poetic, the story has however been updated to suit today's audience. Leonardo DiCaprio and Claire Danes do a excellent job in the lead roles. A must watch for people who like love stories. Expand
  2. StefanS.
    10
    Baz Luhrmann's take on Romeo + Juliet is - highly emotional - lush and wild - innovative - unforgettable.
  3. LouisH.
    5
    this is a weird movie. The drama loses all of its touch. Just the modern stuff with the past dialouge makes everbody seem like they all escaped from the nut house. Still, they had the cool modern police gun fights and all that. Final rating=5. Expand
  4. Patrick
    3
    Romeo and Juliet in a modern-day setting. Does any more need to be said?

See all 11 User Reviews

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