classic turned absurd, 2/10

Rating: 2/10 (11 May 2003)

i finished watching the movie on the 4th attempt. during the first three times i found it unwatchable and shut the machine down. now after i finished it , i must say that there are a few moments in this movie that is worth watching but overall it is a failure.
to begin with, the borrowed plot no longs stands well. there are two things that could not happen in the 1990s. first, juliet's fake death shouldn't have fooled people around. with death a clearly defined in medical terms, juliet is in a coma , not death. second, the priest could have informed romeo by a variety of means other than a letter about the trick. he could use mobile phone, a pager, a computer or even a person. it is interesting to see that in the whole movie, there is no scene involving using cell phones, maybe to cover up the unconvincing plot? but there is a scene in which a postal service female clerk is using a computer. so the plot is inconsistent with modern times.
another issue which crippled the movie is that the romance between romeo and juliet is squeezed into very little time of the movie. there relationship is not seen developed in the movie, but forced forward in huge leaps. the net result is it feels that the thing between those two is nothing but youthful lust, not romantic love. in the other hand, the movie devoted major effort towards other things. all those things worked as an anti-climax to the story. some commentators say it is pathetic and i can't agree more. the only two scenes that are aesthetically pleasing are the moment when romeo first meet juliet and the moment when juliet is waking up but romeo has swallowed the real poison.
last i want to say something about the cast. the best delivering person in this movie is the priest, who actually feels like shakespears' character. then comes juliet. it is because of her that a fews moments of this movie shine. the maiden and juliet's fiance are also decent but the rest of characters ( including romeo, who smoke and do drugs ) are really annoying, to say the least.
i think that is about it, a failed attempt to exploit on shakespears' play. it is interesting to see that females under age of 18 are among the users that give the highest rating to this movie. so, i think i can finish off my comment with a sly smile on my face knowing that even movie as absurd as this one worked for teenagers. lol
2 out of 10.