kitsch updating of the Bard

Rating: 6/10 (17 June 2003)

This new and lively version takes a bit of getting used to, as the opening few minutes are in the style of a fast-moving, MTV style, news report, on gang warfare in Verona.
Against this backdrop are Leonardo di Caprio and Claire Danes, both doing their best with the staring and sloshing around their characters have to do. Neither can speak the verse brilliantly, although both manage to be effective, perhaps because they have youth and beauty on their side.
In support are Miriam Margoyles, Pete Postlethwaite, and others. All adequate.
But the best things in this Romeo and Juliet have nothing to do with Shakepeare. First, there's the music - a lovely theme for when the lovers first meet, a drag performance for Mercutio with the disco classic Young Hearts Run Free, a church choir singing When Doves Cry - and the gorgeous visuals (the final sequences are in a shining gold palace of kitsch, there's a fishtank with lovely coloured fish, there's a large pool which helps move the balcony scene along ...).
Don't expect a straightforward classical adaptation. There's plenty of them around. This is fresh and different and ultimately brilliant.