Juliet & Romeo is the latest in Hollywood’s history of Shakespearean movie adaptations, with an all-star cast and spectacular optics to draw audiences in. The names attached to Juliet & Romeo that attracted the most attention at the beginning of its marketing campaign were Pitch Perfect‘s Rebel Wilson as Lady Capulet and Harry Potter‘s Jason Isaacs as Lord Montague. The A-list cast also includes Rupert Everett as Lord Capulet, Derek Jacobi as the Friar, and Dan Folger as the Apothecary.
Meanwhile, Clara Rugaard and Jamie Ward star as Juliet and Romeo, respectively, alongside other up-and-coming talent in the younger roles. Writer and director Timothy Scott Boggart is relatively unknown, while the movie is being distributed by independent film company Briar Entertainment. Notably, Juliet & Romeo ambitiously advertises a scholarly nature, its synopsis claiming that it is “based on the real story that inspired William Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet.” But the scores are now coming in, and Juliet & Romeo is looking like an epic flop.
Juliet & Romeo’s Rotten Tomatoes Score Is Circling 20%
Juliet & Romeo’s RT Standing Has Barely Improved Since Its Debut
Many unfavorable reviews for Juliet & Romeo are cementing it as one of the worst adaptations of Shakespeare’s works in modern cinema, if not in history. Critics argue that it is a superficial retelling whose musical format isn’t compensating when the songs and choreography are also bland. Ty Burr of The Washington Post bluntly says: “This isn’t a movie, it’s a prom them.” A comparable тιтle is 2013’s Romeo and Juliet, starring Hailee Steinfeld and Douglas Booth, also regarded as a too-basic retelling and sits at 25% on Rotten Tomatoes.
Even worse off, Juliet & Romeo debuted to an 18% critics score, which has fluctuated somewhat since. Per Rotten Tomatoes, at the time of writing, the movie has a 24%, with no audience score yet. The movie also holds a 30% Metacritic score and a 5.2/10 IMDb user rating. Most people are in agreement that Juliet & Romeo falls flat; while audience consensus may end up being more mid-range, no one thinks of this as especially impressive cinema.
Our Take On Juliet & Romeo’s RT Score
This Is Pretty Much What This Movie Deserves
I myself wrote Screen Rant‘s review for Juliet & Romeo, and its Rotten Tomatoes score is pretty reflective of what kind of movie this is. When it ultimately has nothing new to say about the story and fails to use the narrative to impart something meaningful, it entirely misses what people like about reimaginings of Shakespeare’s plays. Then the music, staging, and new subplots are boring if not cringe-worthy. Juliet & Romeo‘s RT score and reviews probably mean that it will be a financial failure as well, and at best can hope to become a cult people-love-to-hate-it movie.
Source: Rotten Tomatoes, The Washington Post
