History YMMV / WestsideStory

* EvilIsSexy: Again, neither the Sharks or Jets are really evil (though the Jets certainly do get despicable later on), but they are gangsters. At the same time, they're played by very fit and charismatic young actors. Bernardo in both film versions is especially good-looking.

* SeinfeldIsUnfunny: It can seem horribly cliché nowadays — not least because it's adapting ''Theatre/RomeoAndJuliet'', which itself underwhelms many readers who find it trite, shallow, and immature. There's also the fact that it's meant to be [[{{Anvilicious}} against bigotry and racism]], but the Sharks have less stage/screen time than the Jets and the 1961 film has white performers in {{Brownface}} with affected accents playing Puerto Ricans with the only actual Latina actor in the cast also subjected to said brownface (though the 2021 film does use actual Latinx actors instead).

** How the story originally treats the ethnic groups involved is also clearly a product of its time. The story treats Puerto Ricans as immigrants, with a good portion of the bigotry they receive ironically coming from a group of people who are either descended from European immigrants or are such themselves. This may have been commonplace at the time of release, but it's fallen out of use due to it being both politically and geographically incorrect. Puerto Rico is a commonwealth instead of a full-fledged state, but Puerto Ricans are American citizens. If anything, many Puerto Ricans take offense to being called immigrants thanks to their pride as Americans. (To be fair, "America" actually points out that "Puerto Rico's in America.") Meanwhile, at the time the show was written, Irish, Italian, and Polish Americans (most of whom were Catholics) were still facing discrimination, therefore strengthening the story's Aesop. Nowadays, shifts in immigrant demographics and social mobility have placed those groups at approximately the same level as [=WASPs=]. Thus, the parallels between the Jets and Sharks are lost on modern viewers. For this reason, the 2020 Broadway revival made the gangs mixed-race with members of every skin color on ''both'' sides.

* RomanticPlotTumor: Weirdly, many fans have expressed this sentiment with regards to the main plot line and leads themselves: go onto any internet comment section or discussion about the film and be prepared to find lamentations that Tony and Maria are uninteresting compared to Riff, Anita, Bernardo, and other supporting characters, that the two of them have no chemistry, and that the dance numbers that the Sharks and Jets do are much more entertaining than the romance itself. Doesn't help that, as ''Theatre/RomeoAndJuliet'' [[{{Expy}} expies]], Tony and Maria suffer from a severe case of StrangledByTheRedString, making the relationship between Anita and Bernardo both more believable and funner to watch.

* WTHCastingAgency:
** The large number of minorities playing Jets in the 2020 revival ran into some criticism on how this change underplays the message of racism in the story.
** Amar Ramasar as Bernardo in the 2020 revival was a major source of division. While universally regarded as an excellent dancer, his acting is much more contentious. And of course, there's the fact that Ramasar is an infamously controversial figure, and his involvement brought quite a bit of bad press to an already divisive revival.

** Anita! It shouldn't come as a surprise, since she's a CompositeCharacter of The Nurse from ''Romeo & Juliet'', who is one of the play's most popular characters. She gets several great songs, and gets to influence the plot in some very interesting ways. Tellingly, Rita Moreno's performance in the 1961 film got her the Best Supporting Actress Oscar. And in the 2021 film, Ariana [=DeBose=] was billed second (with Rachel Zegler getting the AndStarring credit as Maria), even calling Anita a "dream role".

** Viewers, including those on Wikia/ThisVeryWiki, are divided on whether Anita [[spoiler:lying to Doc and the Jets that Chino murdered Maria]] was justified or not. While no one disagrees that [[spoiler:the Jets nearly raping her is absolutely despicable and she has every right to be upset about it]], it's proven divisive whether such a traumatic experience justifies her lie or if she was still wrong for trying to hurt Maria and Tony even though they had nothing to do with it, especially since [[spoiler:the lie leads directly to Tony's death.]]

** How the story originally treats the ethnic groups involved is also clearly a product of its time. The story treats Puerto Ricans as immigrants, with a good portion of the bigotry they receive ironically coming from a group of people who are either descended from European immigrants or are such themselves. This may have been commonplace at the time of release, but it's fallen out of use due to it being both politically and geographically incorrect. Puerto Rico is a commonwealth instead of a full-fledged state, but Puerto Ricans are American citizens. If anything, many Puerto Ricans take offense to being called immigrants thanks to their pride as Americans. (To be fair, "America" actually points out that "Puerto Rico's in America.") Meanwhile, at the time the show was written, Irish, Italian, and Polish Americans (most of whom were Catholics) were still considered AcceptableEthnicTargets, therefore strengthening the story's Aesop. Nowadays, shifts in immigrant demographics and social mobility have placed those groups at approximately the same level as [=WASPs=]. Thus, the parallels between the Jets and Sharks are lost on modern viewers. For this reason, the 2020 Broadway revival made the gangs mixed-race with members of every skin color on ''both'' sides.

** The large number of minorities playing Jets in the 2020 revival ran into some UnfortunateImplications.

* UnfortunateImplications: The decision to make the Jets mixed-race in the 2020 revival may have intended to modernize the story, but had the [[https://tokentheatrefriends.com/2020/09/04/what-happens-to-west-side-story-when-you-remove-race/ unfortunate side effect]] of underplaying the racism and instead primarily associating gang violence with people of color. Scenes like [[spoiler:Anita's sexual assault]] and the mass arrests following "Gee Officer Krupke" that originally featured white men committing crime now feature mostly black men, playing into the stereotype of black men as dangerous.

** Did Bernardo [[spoiler: really mean to kill Riff]] or not? When Tony tells Maria [[spoiler: "'Nardo didn't mean it either]], does he mean [[spoiler: that it was an impulsive act of rage, like Tony's own subsequent killing of Bernardo]] or [[spoiler: that it was literally an accident]]? Nothing in the stage directions for the Rumble [[spoiler: imply that it's an accident, and in fact Bernardo is described as "triumphant" afterwards]], but in both of the [[Film/WestSideStory1961 two]] [[Film/WestSideStory2021 film versions]], [[spoiler: the stabbing is clearly an accident, and Bernardo's reaction is MyGodWhatHaveIDone]]

** In the musical as well as both films, Maria ''immediately'' forgiving Tony for killing her brother, refusing to let Tony turn himself in, and never mourning the death of her brother after the initial confrontation can make Maria come across as a bit callous to some.

** Whether the look of stunned horror on Bernardo's face after [[spoiler:[[AccidentalMurder Riff literally runs into his knife]] is due to genuine guilt over taking a life, the fact that it wasn't more [[ItsPersonal personal]], or the unexpected shock that often comes with murdering someone for the first time is left up to the viewer to interpret, as Bernardo himself is killed soon after, with far less ambiguity regarding his killer's [[{{Revenge}} motive]]]].

** "You're a girl, Anybodys. ''Be'' a girl!" is supposed to be part of Tony objecting to the senseless gang violence, but now it just sounds sexist, as if the violence is especially bad because ''even a girl'' wants to fight. Due to the ambiguity over Anybodys' gender identity (some productions play the character as a transgender boy), there's another layer of dissonance added in that they might be misgendering Anybodys on top of the sexism.

** Much like his rival, Riff also shamelessly leads a gang and is obsessively hateful towards the Sharks. But while he doesn't have it quite as bad, him and the other Jets are still hit with plenty of prejudice and mistreatment as well, which has shaped them into the delinquents that they are. And while he may be violent and looking for a fight, [[spoiler:his death]] is still portrayed as a tragic moment, with even the Sharks stunned by it.

%%* OneSceneWonder: The unnamed girl who sings the song "Somewhere".
* RomanticPlotTumor: Weirdly, many fans have expressed this sentiment with regards to the main plotline and leads themselves: go onto any internet comment section or discussion about the film and be prepared to find lamentations that Tony and Maria are uninteresting compared to Riff, Anita, Bernardo, and other supporting characters, that the two of them have no chemistry, and that the dance numbers that the Sharks and Jets do are much more entertaining than the romance itself. Doesn't help that, as ''Theatre/RomeoAndJuliet'' [[{{Expy}} expies]], Tony and Maria suffer from a severe case of StrangledByTheRedString, making the relationship between Anita and Bernardo both more believable and funner to watch.