It's What Shakespeare Would Have Wanted.

Rating: 10/10 (15 May 2020)

I understand why people might not like this movie, but I must respectfully disagree. The script is very loyal to the original play, and the modernized aesthetics are, in my opinion, very loyal to the ever too often overlooked spirit of so much of Shakespeare's work. Basically, it was pop-culture, and it was not drama but melodrama, every production was filled with innuendo and over the top characters. Because of the language and aesthetics of the time, Shakespeare can often feel somewhat boring or stuffy, so a version where those visual aesthetics have been updated to something we today (and at the time the firm was made) understand as over-the-top is somewhat genius, to be honest, it captures the essence of Shakespeare that is so often lost in modernity.
Beyond the (surely annoying) lit analysis, the casting is also great - not even just because of Paul Rudd, this movie also has my absolute favourite version of Mercutio!
All in all I think this movie gets a bad rap sometimes because its a bit more fun and indulgent than most adaptations, but that's what makes it so great!