Why did Baz call this "William Shakespeare's Romeo+Juliet"?

Rating: 6/10 (23 November 2000)

Using this title in it's own right thumbs it's nose at the Bard!! Not that I'm a true member or anything, but pretension is going to have reaction's, most of which are going to be negative!!!! I haven't seen this flick for a while, but I do remember that everybody I associated with at the time absolutely despised it. I can see why, Shakespeare was a poet before a playwrite to my knowledge (don't hold me to it, I prefer his works to his life story!) so any well crafted dialogue of his is butchered for physical and visual effect in this movie, it's just wrong! Not to mention I find the acting to be thrown out for speed,and you can't just do what you please w/ the physical aspects of the original play, so many scenes that made the play a fatalistical tragedy are overwrought!! I have to give this movie it's due, though, it shows a great use of visual ability that should be used w/ these types of stories (even though it seems that Baz is trying to do everything that everybody else didn't with this movie) which does justice to the themes of this play. I'm not familiar with any of Baz Luhrmann's other work's, but after graduating to his sappy "Everybody's Free (To Wear Sunscreen)", I'll be concise enough to say this is his best work (which definitely ain't saying a lot!) and that I'm afraid to meet him for fear of laughing at him or puking on him! A 5.5