Romeo + Juliet

Name: Romeo + Juliet
Genre: Drama, Romance, Crime
Released: November 1, 1996
Duration: 120 min
Rating: 60
Cast: Claire Danes, Leonardo DiCaprio

1996

METASCORE

Mixed or average reviews based on 20 Critic Reviews

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USER SCORE

Generally favorable reviews based on 154 Ratings

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6.3

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6.3	Your Score
6.3	User Score Generally favorable reviews based on 154 Ratings

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Romeo And Juliet

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Movie Details & Credits

Twentieth Century Fox Film Corporation | Release Date: November 1, 1996 | PG-13

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,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

Director: Baz Luhrmann

Genre(s): Drama, Romance, Crime

Rating: PG-13

Runtime: 120 min

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Critic Reviews

100

Peter Travers

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. Read full review

Marjorie Baumgarten

This Romeo & Juliet is a rich visual feast, besotted with the fervor of its acrobatic camerawork and kinetic staging and its mind-bending aggregation of unrelated but resonant fragments of 20th-century iconography. Read full review

James Berardinelli

While such a loud, brash interpretation may not go down in cinematic history as the definitive version of the play, hopefully it will open a few eyes and widen the audience willing to venture into any movie bearing the credit "based on the play by William Shakespeare." Read full review

Richard Corliss

Luhrmann, an Australian who pretty much let his camera go nuts in the egregiously overrated "Strictly Ballroom", here makes reasonable, imaginative decisions that are, arguably, true to Shakespeare. Read full review

Janet Maslin

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. Read full review

Roger Ebert

I have never seen anything remotely approaching the mess that the new punk version of "Romeo & Juliet" makes of Shakespeare's tragedy. Read full review

Mick LaSalle

The result is embarrassing: quick cuts and shaky, hand- held camera work, bad acting and lots of attitude. Read full review

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User Reviews

respwn

Jun 7, 2020

Pretty much my favorite movie of all time. Like the novel every detail is crafted to simulate how things feel and won't give a **** about how it would actually look like. Amazing music, amazing novel, amazing interpretation, amazing actors.

0 of 0 users found this helpful00

MichelleT.

Jul 20, 2008

Quite good compared to the horrible musical 'west side story.

0 of 1 users found this helpful

Joesatmoes

Feb 11, 2014

This movie is hiLARIOUS! If you think of it as a serious modern adaption of William Shakespeare's play, then you will be pissed off. But from the start, I knew this was a parody of the original play, and I had a lot of fun watching it.

This is the classic Romeo and Juliet story, but moreThis movie is hiLARIOUS! If you think of it as a serious modern adaption of William Shakespeare's play, then you will be pissed off. But from the start, I knew this was a parody of the original play, and I had a lot of fun watching it.

This is the classic Romeo and Juliet story, but more modernized- with guns replacing swords, and rather than the dispute between the families being their religious beliefs, it is a business rivalry. However, the script is the exact same script as the original play, with the same ancient-English lines. Right from there, you should know that this is meant to just be so ridiculously, stupidly over-the-top weird movie, which I find entertaining. It is, in my opinion, utter f*ckng genius.… Expand

0 of 0 users found this helpful00

FilipeNeto

Jun 26, 2018

Changing or using material from Shakespeare always requires courage and maturity. He's just the greatest British playwright of all time. Baz Luhrmann had this courage and much more, in a film that updates the most famous love story ever, bringing it to our time, to a great seaside town. ThisChanging or using material from Shakespeare always requires courage and maturity. He's just the greatest British playwright of all time. Baz Luhrmann had this courage and much more, in a film that updates the most famous love story ever, bringing it to our time, to a great seaside town. This may displease the purists but its not original. This has happened to other stories by other authors. However, this film has the characteristic of keeping, almost in full, the original dialogues of Shakespeare. I confess that I really enjoyed listening to them, but there is a natural nasty discrepancy between the Renaissance text and the modern environment, they disagree with each other for the most obvious reasons and this damages the film. If the idea was to bring the story to modern times the most natural solution would have been to adapt the dialogues, but if the option were to keep Shakespeare's text untouched, the best would be a period film. Mixing both concepts did not work out.

The film features Leonardo DiCaprio and Claire Danes in the lead roles. DiCaprio was still enjoying his stage as a "handsome movie boy", while Danes was just a beautiful unknown face to a Juliet who wanted to be naive and young. In fact, this actress employed very little in this film beyond her physical beauty, for she always sounded unconvincingly and never really seemed to be in love. The scenarios are quite curious and full of exaggerations. The Capulet house could be the mansion of any new-wealthy businessman, with its tacky décor and kitsch furnishings. These elements are also visible in the family mausoleum, with all the candles and neon crosses. In the middle of all, Danes and DiCaprio stand out for the sobriety of their costumes. Harold Perrineau probably gives us the most controversial performance, turning Mercutio into an African-American transvestite, full of glitter. Pete Postlethwaite did quite well as Father Laurence, as Miriam Margoyles in the maid role. The soundtrack wisely uses some pieces of classical music, but this doesn't harmonize with the modern pieces that were used as well.… Expand

0 of 0 users found this helpful00

Sosmooth1982

Jan 9, 2023

The love story is ok. The movie is kind of boring, and I don't like the end. I expected this movie to be more entertaining but my family likes it for some reason.

0 of 0 users found this helpful00

StealthyK1LLs

Apr 10, 2015

This has to be the worst movie I have ever seen in my entire life. I'd have to take the drugs Romeo took at the party to even remotely enjoy this horrible piece of s*** that has been taken upon the chest of Shakespeare himself.

1 of 3 users found this helpful12

FranzHcritic

Jun 15, 2014

Quite possibly one of the only few movies I could not physically tolerate to hear or watch. Modernizing the Shakespeare play, which I think is hyped up exceedingly too much as it is, is made worse by, a surprise, the faithfulness of the dialogue from the play. DiCaprio acted exactly likeQuite possibly one of the only few movies I could not physically tolerate to hear or watch. Modernizing the Shakespeare play, which I think is hyped up exceedingly too much as it is, is made worse by, a surprise, the faithfulness of the dialogue from the play. DiCaprio acted exactly like Romeo, which I think is the worst that he could ever achieve. Shakespeare should be left to the British actors.… Expand

0 of 3 users found this helpful03

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72	#72 Best Movie of 1996
13	#13 Most Discussed Movie of 1996
2	#2 Most Shared Movie of 1996