History YMMV / WilliamShakespearesRomeoAndJuliet

* OlderThanTheyThink: The idea of Romeo still being alive when Juliet wakes up and dying in her arms wasn't invented by this movie, but is also found in Italian versions of the story that predate Shakespeare's play, as well as in several 18th century rewrites of the play and at least two opera adaptations, Gounod's ''Roméo et Juliette'' and Bellini's ''I Capuletti e i Montecchi.''

** Tybalt turning his [[CoolGuns 'Sword']] into a SniperPistol and blowing up the whole gas station. It's no less awesome and intense, but it's still bizarre.

** Hey, look, it's [[Film/RepoTheGeneticOpera Rotti Largo]] as Juliet's dad!

** Hammy as it was, Harold Perrineau's portrayal of Mercutio is often considered to be one of the best parts of the film and is often cited as one that's truest to the character overall.

** [[Series/{{Lost}} Michael]] (or [[Series/{{Oz}} Augustus Hill]], depending on your preferred fandom) plays Mercutio.

* FauxSymbolism: Water as the overarching motif (the first shot of Juliet is of her face underwater, the lovers meets across an aquarium, the balcony scene is reset in a swimming pool, Tybalt dies after toppling into a fountain, etc), along with ubiquitous Catholic symbols. While many reasons have been given (the main being baptism), even the director is not quite sure what all of it is actually supposed to mean.

* {{Narm}}: [[Narm/WilliamShakespearesRomeoAndJuliet Has its own page.]]

** For starters, the concept of MTV-ing Shakespeare in general. While some find that updating story makes it catchy, stylish and gives it a kind of youthful charm, others believe that the combination of Shakespeare with modern settings gives us an incredible WorldOfHam with a bunch of really pretentious characters. This is HilariousInHindsight, since it's exactly how critics felt about the original play when it was first performed in the 1660s. The earliest known review called it the worst play the writer had ever seen, while another reviewer said [[EnsembleDarkhorse Mercutio was his favorite character, hands-down]].

* FauxSymbolism: Water as the overarching motif (the first shot of Juliet is of her face underwater, the lovers meets across an aquarium, the balcony scene is reset in a swimming pool, [[spoiler:Tybalt]] dies after toppling into a fountain, etc), along with ubiquitous Catholic symbols. While many reasons have been given (the main being baptism), even the director is not quite sure what all of it is actually supposed to mean.

* OlderThanTheyThink: The idea of Romeo [[spoiler: still being alive when Juliet wakes up and dying in her arms]] wasn't invented by this movie, but is also found in Italian versions of the story that predate Shakespeare's play, as well as in several 18th century rewrites of the play and at least two opera adaptations, Gounod's ''Roméo et Juliette'' and Bellini's ''I Capuletti e i Montecchi.''

* AngstWhatAngst: Juliet's lament upon learning that Romeo [[spoiler:killed her cousin Tybalt]] is shortened in the film, making it seem as though she immediately forgave him upon hearing about it.

** The [[SignatureScene iconic scene]] in which Romeo and Juliet finally meet each other. Either it's one of the greatest and cutest [[MeetCute Meet Cutes]] in cinematic history or a LoveAtFirstSight scenario that seriously doesn't work in a modern-day setting.

** The whole "guns being called swords" things. Either an amusing way around the text or proof that the whole concept was a dumb idea.
** The whole concept of MTV-ing Shakespeare in general. While some find that updating story makes it catchy, stylish and gives it a kind of youthful charm, others believe that the combination of Shakespeare with modern settings gives us an incredible WorldOfHam with a bunch of really pretentious characters. HilariousInHindsight since this is exactly how critics felt about THE ORIGINAL PLAY when it was first performed in the 1660s. The earliest known review called it the worst play the writer had ever seen, while another reviewer said [[EnsembleDarkhorse Mercutio was his favorite character, hands-down.]]

* {{Narm}}:
** The guns named after swords were ridiculous enough. "Fetch me my longsword!" Cue a shotgun... Made even better by the fact that the full line is "Fetch me my longsword, ho!" He's talking to his wife.
** Juliet waking from her faked death just in time for Romeo to realize he goofed (it does come across in the acting) did slip from {{tragedy}} to {{black comedy}}; for a scene not meant to be funny, it can't be overstated just how perfect the comedic timing is here. Her seeing his dead body is also meant to be moving and tragic but is rendered hilarious by Clare Danes' terrible crying.
** Then there's the occupational hazard of all Shakespearean adaptations relocated to relatively modern times without altering the text: Elizabethan dialogue, spoken in relatively modern times.
** Romeo losing it at Tybalt right before he kills him. Creator/LeonardoDiCaprio's overacting is almost painful, and it's nearly impossible to understand what the hell he's saying when he's screaming that loudly. The way he yells "EITHER THOU, OR I, OR BOTH MUST GO WITH HIM!" over and over, you half expect Tybalt to shout [[Film/ThePrincessBride "STOP SAYING THAT!"]] And it all culminates in Romeo's hilariously overdone scream as he unloads his gun into Tybalt. Even foreign dubs got affected: The Swedish version didn't subtitle that. Either the translators didn't find it important enough, or they simply couldn't hear what he was shouting...
** Lady Capulet's reaction to Tybalt's death. "ROOOOMEO SLEW TYBALT! ROOOOMEO MUST NOT LIVE!"
** On Mercutio:
*** Mercutio crossdressing in a silver, glittery tube top and miniskirt. Then pulling Romeo's invitation to the party from the bottom of said miniskirt. After seeing that, it's impossible to take his death scene seriously.
*** The fact that the actor playing Mercutio is Creator/HaroldPerrineau aka Michael from ''Series/{{Lost}}''. You'd almost expect him to scream [[SayMyName WAAAAAAAAAAAAALT!!]]
** John Leguizamo's odd lisping delivery, especially if you start thinking of [[WesternAnimation/IceAge Sid the Sloth]].
* NarmCharm: People who are fans of this film love it for basically the exact reasons the critics hate it. "It's stupid, but it's ''fun''" is a common sentiment.
** Related to the note about keeping the Elizabethan dialogue: some note, given that it ''does'' keep the dialogue as well as a lot of stage directions like scene transitions and fade-outs for acts in the directoral and camera work, it may be one of the better straight adaptations of Shakespeare's work.

** [[Series/{{Lost}} Michael]] (or [[Series/{{Oz}} Augustus Hill]], depending on your preferred fandom) plays Mercutio!

** Creator/PaulRudd plays Paris! Ironically he's one of the few actors in the cast who's actually trained in Shakespeare.
** Benvolio was featured as the male dancer in an Music/AlanisMorissette [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aGN3CJ40XCU video]] before he was [[Series/RayDonovan Bunchy Donovan]]! There's even a scene in the video where he bears a startling resemblance to Tybalt.

* StrangledByTheRedString: Romeo and Juliet's LoveAtFirstSight can be hard enough to believe in the original play, but it works because we know it's a convention for old stories. In the '90s setting of the film, without a classical atmosphere, it's harder to take it seriously when Juliet declares "My only love sprung from my only hate" after just a ten-minute meeting scene and one ardent kiss.

** Lady Capulet’s reaction to Tybalt’s death. “ROOOOMEO SLEW TYBALT! ROOOOMEO MUST NOT LIVE!

*** Mercutio crossdressing in a silver, glittery tube top and miniskirt... Then pulling Romeo's invitation to the party from the bottom of said miniskirt. After seeing that, it's impossible to take his death scene seriously.

* HoYay: The film is simply saturated with this because of the large number of young and attractive half-dressed guys who constantly seem too close to each other. And in addition to everything, it seems that Mercutio in this film is canonically in love with Romeo ...

* StrangledByTheRedString: Romeo and Juliet's LoveAtFirstSight can be hard enough to believe in the original play, but it works because we know it's a convention for old stories. In the '90s setting of the film, without a classical atmosphere, it's harder to take it seriously when Juliet declares "My only love sprung from my only hate" after just a ten-minute meeting scene and one ardent kiss.
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* AudienceAlienatingPremise: Criminal authorities and young bandits, who speak like educated aristocrats of the Elizabethan era? Intentional combination of pretentiousness and eccentricity in the style of MTV 90's? Well, not everyone liked this, yes.

* CultClassic: Critical reception was mixed; some people hated it for not taking itself seriously like previous adaptations, or how the dialogue clashed with the setting. Many fans have argued that Romeo and Juliet wasn't exactly high-brow entertainment in the first place and William Shakespeare himself would approve of the movie if he were alive. Many schools present this movie as a way of introducing students to Shakespeare because it is actually one of the most ''faithful'' film adaptations of Romeo and Juliet out there. It keeps nearly all the original dialogue but re-skins it with modern aesthetics.

** The whole concept of MTV-ing Shakespeare in general. While some find that updating story makes it catchy, stylish and gives it a kind of youthful charm, others believe that the combination of Shakespeare with modern settings gives us an incredible WorldOfHam with a bunch of really pretentious characters. HilariousInHindsight since this is exactly how critics felt about THE ORIGINAL PLAY when it was first performed in the 1660s. The earliest known review said "this is the worst play I've ever seen in my entire life," while another reviewer said [[EnsembleDarkhorse Mercutio was his favorite character, hands-down.]]

** The whole concept of MTV-ing Shakespeare in general. While some find that updating story makes it catchy, stylish and gives it a kind of youthful charm, others believe that the combination of Shakespeare with modern settings gives us an incredible WorldOfHam with a bunch of really pretentious characters.
** HilariousInHindsight since this is exactly how critics felt about THE ORIGINAL PLAY when it was first performed in the 1660s. The earliest known review said "this is the worst play I've ever seen in my entire life," while another reviewer said [[EnsembleDarkhorse Mercutio was his favorite character, hands-down.]]

* EnsembleDarkhorse: Creator/PetePostlethwaite as Father Laurence, due in large part to his actually knowing how Shakespearean dialogue works.

* FauxSymbolism: Water as the overarching motif (the first shot of Juliet is of her face underwater, the lovers meets across an aquarium, the balcony scene is reset in a swimming pool, [[spoiler:Tybalt]] dies after toppling into a fountain, etc), along with ubiquitous Catholic symbols. And even the director is not quite sure what all of it is actually supposed to mean.
** Baptism?

* {{Narm}}: The guns named after swords were ridiculous enough. "Fetch me my longsword!" Cue a shotgun...
** Made even better by the fact that the full line is "Fetch me my longsword, ho!" He's talking to his wife.

** Romeo losing it at Tybalt right before he kills him. Creator/LeonardoDicaprio's overacting is almost painful, and it's nearly impossible to understand what the hell he's saying when he's screaming that loudly. The way he yells "EITHER THOU, OR I, OR BOTH MUST GO WITH HIM!" over and over, you half expect Tybalt to shout [[Film/ThePrincessBride "STOP SAYING THAT!"]] And it all culminates in Romeo's hilariously overdone scream as he unloads his gun into Tybalt.
*** The Swedish version didn't subtitle that. Either the translators didn't find it important enough, or they simply couldn't hear what he was shouting...
** Mercutio crossdressing in a silver, glittery tube top and miniskirt... Then pulling Romeo's invitation to the party from the bottom of said miniskirt. After seeing that, it's impossible to take his death scene seriously.
*** Even more hilarious when you realize that the dude playing Mercutio is Creator/HaroldPerrineau aka Michael from ''Series/{{Lost}}''. You'd almost expect him to scream [[SayMyName WAAAAAAAAAAAAALT!!]]

** [[{{Series/Lost}} Michael]] plays Mercutio!
*** Or [[{{Series/Oz}} Augustus Hill]], depending on your preferred fandom.

!!William Shakespeare's Romeo + Juliet

* EarWorm: The entire soundtrack, special mention to the infamously catchy "Lovefool".

* StrangledByTheRedString: Romeo and Juliet's LoveAtFirstSight can be hard enough to believe in the original play, but it works because we know it's a convention for old stories. In the'90s setting of the film, without a classical atmosphere, it's harder to take it seriously when Juliet declares "My only love sprung from my only hate" after just a ten-minute meeting scene and one ardent kiss.

* StrangledByTheRedString: Romeo and Juliet's LoveAtFirstSight can be hard enough to believe in the original work, but it works because we know it's convention for old stories. In the'90s setting of the film, without a classical atmosphere, it's harder to take it seriously when Juliet declares "My only love sprung from my only hate" after just a ten-minute meeting scene and one ardent kiss.

* StrangledByTheRedString: Invoked because of the original work, but the settings can greatly interfere with the perception of this seriously because of the lack of a classical or atmosphere. As a result, in the film, Juliet reads the words about "love that replaced hatred for the worst enemy" after their almost ten-minute meeting and one ardent kiss.

** Juliet waking from her faked death just in time for Romeo to realize he goofed (it does come across in the acting) did slip from tragedy to black comedy; for a scene not meant to be funny, it can't be overstated just how perfect the comedic timing is here. Her seeing his dead body is also meant to be moving and tragic but is rendered hilarious by Clare Danes' terrible crying.

* AwesomeMusic: Some of the scores from the movie are absolutely ''gorgeous'', such as, for example, the sweeping violins from the [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nOQeSfNLs5c Balcony Scene]].

* OlderThanTheyThink: The idea of Romeo [[spoiler: still being alive when Juliet wakes up and dying in her arms]] wasn't invented by this movie, but is also found in Italian versions of the story that predate Shakespeare's play, as well as at least two opera adaptations, Gounod's ''Roméo et Juliette'' and Bellini's ''I Capuletti e i Montecchi.''