Romeo & Juliet
Relativity Media | Release Date: October 11, 2013 CRITIC SCORE DISTRIBUTION
41
METASCORE
Mixed or average reviews based on 30 Critic Reviews
Positive:
4
Mixed:
16
Negative:
10
Watch Now
Stream On
Stream On
Buy on
Stream On
Stream On
Stream On
Expand

Critic Reviews

Critic scorePublicationBy date
80
Arizona RepublicBill GoodykoontzOct 10, 2013
It’s well-staged, well-acted, all the right people die in the end. It comes down to, well, Romeo and Juliet, really, and Douglas Booth and Hailee Steinfeld prove capable in the title roles. Read full review
75
Miami HeraldConnie OgleOct 10, 2013
Carlei’s film is not particularly imaginative in terms of context, but it offers proof that this material never tarnishes, that with the right sort of movie magic, even a traditional telling can be thrilling. Read full review
63
ReelViewsJames BerardinelliOct 10, 2013
This is a competent, technically proficient rendering that may find favor with those who have never seen Romeo & Juliet on the big screen but it's little more than a curiosity for those with a long history of watching Shakespeare's works translated to the cinema. Read full review
63
Chicago Sun-TimesMary HoulihanOct 10, 2013
Despite the filmmakers’ best attempts, the latest screen adaptation of Shakespeare’s tragic love story Romeo & Juliet lands with a dull thud. Read full review
60
Total FilmMatt MuellerOct 11, 2013
Perfectly respectable, but it won’t linger in the memory like Luhrmann’s. Read full review
60
The New York TimesManohla DargisOct 10, 2013
A sufficiently entertaining, adamantly old-fashioned adaptation that follows the play’s general outline without ever rising to the passionate intensity of its star-cross’d crazy kids. Read full review
60
New York Daily NewsElizabeth WeitzmanOct 10, 2013
This version is never rough, nor rude, nor boisterous, but for first-timers, perhaps wisely and slow is the way to go. There will be time enough for them to discover cinema’s superior adaptations anon. Read full review
60
Time OutJoshua RothkopfOct 8, 2013
Doomed love will never go out of style, but would it have killed director Carlo Carlei to inject the proceedings with some modern-day aloofness? Today’s version will likely become a cheat sheet for slacking students, but it won’t inspire them to open their hearts to the text. Read full review
50
USA TodayClaudia PuigOct 10, 2013
While there is a pleasantness about this faithful Shakespearean reboot, there also is some woeful miscasting and a lukewarm feeling about the straightforward production. Read full review
50
Slant MagazineR. Kurt OsenlundOct 10, 2013
Not even when the doomed Juliet reaches for Romeo's dagger do you feel a single vicarious pain in your gut. Read full review
50
Los Angeles TimesBetsy SharkeyOct 10, 2013
This is Shakespeare lite, which ultimately makes for Shakespeare slightly trite. Read full review
50
St. Louis Post-DispatchJoe WilliamsOct 10, 2013
Shakespeare’s play evokes the poetry of undying love, but this Romeo and Juliet is prosaic. Read full review
50
New York PostSara StewartOct 10, 2013
Italian director Carlo Carlei has a background in TV movies, and this film, plodding and earnest, seems meant for the small screen, too. Read full review
50
The Hollywood ReporterTodd McCarthyOct 10, 2013
The older the actors here the better they are, as pros like Paul Giamatti and Damian Lewis have it all over low-voltage young leads Douglas Booth and Hailee Steinfeld. Relativity will be lucky to milk anything more than a moderate take from this pretty but unexciting enactment. Read full review
50
McClatchy-Tribune News ServiceRoger MooreOct 10, 2013
So as much as every generation deserves it’s own Romeo & Juliet, this latest one does nothing to make anyone older than Hailee Steinfeld forget the heat of Baz Lurhmann’s far sexier, noisier and passionate modern dress version of 1996, where Claire Danes and Leo DiCaprio completely convinced us that they knew how to “play Satan’s game.” And how. Read full review
50
The DissolveTasha RobinsonOct 9, 2013
It’s all tasteful and polished to a fault, but it feels like exactly what it is: an abbreviated version that preserves the high points, zips past the rest, and never approaches the depth of the full text. Read full review
45
Film.comKate ErblandOct 10, 2013
Fellowes' many changes diminish the power of Shakespeare's story. Read full review
42
Christian Science MonitorPeter RainerOct 11, 2013
Hailee Steinfeld’s Juliet is rather lovely and rather bland; Douglas Booth’s Romeo might have stepped out of a special Renaissance Faire edition of GQ. Read full review
40
The GuardianPeter BradshawOct 11, 2013
It has a sort of soapy reliability, but compare it to the blazing passion of Baz Luhrmann's modern-day version with Leonardo DiCaprio and Claire Danesin gangland LA and it looks pretty feeble. Plus, the liberties taken with the text mean that it might not even be all that suitable for school parties. Read full review
40
VarietyJustin ChangOct 8, 2013
Shorn of eroticism, intensity or purpose... it strikes familiar beats in a manner more strained than inspired. Read full review
38
RogerEbert.comSusan WloszczynaOct 11, 2013
The balcony scene takes a tumble. This is movie's greatest disappointment. Really, if you can't get this right, then why even do Romeo and Juliet? Read full review
38
Philadelphia InquirerSteven ReaOct 10, 2013
This Romeo and Juliet is hard to take seriously - and simply hard to take. Read full review
38
Chicago TribuneMichael PhillipsOct 10, 2013
The most excellent and lamentable tragedy Romeo and Juliet has been turned into a film that is lamentable without the "excellent" part. Read full review
37
Washington PostStephanie MerryOct 10, 2013
Just a series of familiar scenes unfurling toward an inevitable conclusion. Read full review
33
The A.V. ClubIgnatiy VishnevetskyOct 9, 2013
Romeo & Juliet looks chintzy. The Capulets’ masked balls is designed in Pier 1 Imports colors and texture, the lovers’ secret marriage is performed in front of a green screen, and when Romeo goes up to Juliet’s balcony, he climbs a plastic vine with cloth leaves. Read full review
30
Austin ChronicleKimberley JonesOct 16, 2013
The film finds some momentum once the bodies start dropping – but maybe that was only the sweet relief in knowing the end was nigh. Read full review
25
San Francisco ChronicleMick LaSalleOct 10, 2013
Rarely do two lines go by without Fellowes changing something, always for the worse. Read full review
25
Boston GlobeTy BurrOct 10, 2013
Carlos Carlei’s Romeo and Juliet is a failure of skill. Read full review
20
The TelegraphTim RobeyOct 10, 2013
Let’s blame Fellowes before Shakespeare – one of them built this house, the other has just walked right through it in his filthiest garden clogs. Read full review
20
Village VoiceAlan ScherstuhlOct 9, 2013
It’s all rote, dashed through, and somewhat detestable. Read full review
More From This Movie

41 Critic Reviews

6.4 User Reviews

Details & Credits|Trailers

Current Movie Releases
By MetascoreBy User Score
1 86 Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse
2 84 Are You There God? It's Me,...
3 78 John Wick: Chapter 4
4 75 Polite Society
5 73 Air
SEE ALL
Essential Links
New on Amazon Prime Video
New on Netflix
Coming Soon to DVD/Blu-ray
SEE ALL