Modern Shakespeare

Rating: 6/10 (28 June 1999)

The most popular love story in history, William Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet, converted to modern day sets. The director and writer of the movie decided to handle the conflicts between modern day sets and Shakespeare's original texts with the means of comedy. This was not necessarily a bad idea, since Shakespeare may be somewhat boring at times, and small humorous bits make the movie..well, less boring. But the result was, that Luhrmann almost turned the love story of all times into the comedy of the year. The movie is by no means bad, but it does not have the spirit of Shakespeare's texts. This movie is a disgrace to the original play, but if one is able to ignore this fact, one can see this movie as a brilliant love story. Well, of course it is, it's Shakespeare after all, so the story is exceptional. Leonardo DiCaprio shows yet again that he is not just a pretty boy, but he can act, too! His performance is brilliant, and Clare Danes' is amazing, also. So a movie with wonderful acting performances and an exceptional script can't be bad, but there's just a tad too much humor involved, this story does not need that. I can't help myself, I am comparing the movie to the original play, so I think the movie is not that great.