Juliet & Romeo

Juliet & Romeo
Starring Clara Rugaard, Jamie Ward, Jason Isaacs, Rebel Wilson
Directed by Timothy Scott Bogart

Musicals are fantastic when they're done right. "Wicked," "The Greatest Showman," "La La Land," "The Sound of Music," "Fiddler on the Roof" and many more fall into this category - musicals that will and have withstood the test of time and provide some of the best songs set to film ever. Then there are the muddling musicals that come out every year - "Mean Girls," "Journey to Bethlehem," "Spirited" and "Dear Evan Hanson" exist in the zeitgeist but are either maligned for great reason or so bland they're forgettable. 2025 has delivered its first such musical with "Juliet & Romeo," a re-telling of the classic Shakespeare story set to pop music that tries to remake the wheel but ends up spinning in place.

In Verona, a war has waged between the Montagues and the Capulets for centuries, but the Pope wants to invade their land and take it for Rome, so the two form an uneasy alliance. Yet despite this there's still continual fights between the two families, until Romeo Montague (Jamie Ward) meets Juliet Capulet (Clara Rugaard), and the two fall in love. Torn between their family ideals and their passion, they embark on their own journey to make a name for themselves together - or die together.

Everyone knows the classic William Shakespeare story (which is odd calling it the greatest love story of all time seeing how it ends up), so what's a way to spice things up? Turn it into a musical, of course! (That, and change the ending, which isn't a big spoiler because it literally lays it all out in the open even though it seems to think itself smarter than it is). To that end, the music is...fine. It's all pop generated and sung with gusto and talent, so there's no fault there. They all sound the same, the lyrics are simplistic, but that's what this movie is: simple, enjoyable enough, not something that'll stand out in the history of musicals. For the very few who see this, there's some enjoyment to be had.

The performances by the two leads are enjoyable enough as well. Clara Rugaard gives Juliet a more independent character feel (which I guess is why they changed the name from "Romeo & Juliet" to "Juliet & Romeo," but even then it doesn't make a lot of sense). Jamie Ward (who's the spitting image of a young Christopher Abbott) seems to be applying for the next boy band with his natural pop vocals and good looking charm. The remainder of the cast - which bizarrely includes the likes of Rebel Wilson, Jason Isaacs, Dan Folger, Rupert Everett and Derek Jacobi - are just background characters with little to no characteristics (I honestly don't remember many of their names). There's some subplots including a love affair with Romeo's cousin (I think?) as well as Dan Folger's Apothecary who smuggles Jews out of Italy, but both those stories are haphazardly written and disregarded.

In trying to tell a different version of the story, all "Juliet & Romeo" does is leave audiences (or audience, as I was the only one in the theater) with a shrug, appreciating the music, but not enough to download it from Spotify anytime soon.

The Score: C