TVTropes Now available in the app store!
Open

Follow TV Tropes

William Shakespeare's Romeo + Juliet

Go To

All spoilers will be unmarked ahead. You Have Been Warned!


  • Angst? What Angst?: Juliet's lament upon learning that Romeo killed her cousin Tybalt is shortened in the film, making it seem as though she immediately forgave him upon hearing about it.
  • Awesome Music: Some of the scores from the movie are absolutely gorgeous:
    • The sweeping violins from the Balcony Scene.
    • The utterly thunderous O Verona, which signifies that yes, this is a tragedy.
  • Big-Lipped Alligator Moment:
    • The whole Mercutio dance number. Granted, Romeo was high at that point, but it really comes out of nowhere.
    • At the beginning of the dance, Romeo sees that Tybalt kissed Juliet's mother, his aunt. In the future, this has no consequences for the plot or the characters themselves, and it's never mentioned again.
    • Tybalt turning his 'Sword' into a Sniper Pistol and blowing up the whole gas station. It's no less awesome and intense, but it's still bizarre.
  • Broken Base:
    • For starters, the concept of moving Shakespearean plays to a modern setting in general. While some find that updating the story makes it catchy, stylish, more comprehensible to younger, modern audiences, and gives it a kind of youthful charm, others believe that the combination of Shakespeare with modern settings gives us an incredible World of Ham with a bunch of really pretentious characters. This is Hilarious in Hindsight, 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 Mercutio was his favorite character, hands-down.
    • The whole "guns being called swords" thing. Either an amusing way around the text, or proof that the whole concept was a dumb idea.
    • The iconic scene in which Romeo and Juliet finally meet each other. Either it's one of the greatest and cutest Meet Cutes in cinematic history, or a Love at First Sight scenario that seriously doesn't work in a modern-day setting.
  • Ensemble Dark Horse:
    • Pete Postlethwaite as Father Laurence, due in large part to his actually knowing how Shakespearean dialogue works.
    • 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.
  • Evil Is Cool: John Leguizamo's is probably the most badass version of Tybalt that will ever be put to celluloid.
  • Faux Symbolism: Water as the overarching motif (the first shot of Juliet is of her face underwater, the lovers meet 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 one being somehow representative of baptism), even the director is not quite sure what all of it is actually supposed to mean.
  • Genius Bonus: The film is full to bursting with references to other works by Shakespeare that avid readers will recognize. For example, the in-universe slogan for one of the bullet manufacturers is "Shoot forth thunder," a line from Henry VI.
  • Ham and Cheese: Whether you love it or hate it, Harold Perrineau was having way too much fun playing Mercutio.
  • Heartwarming Moments: The movie's problems aside, most agree that Romeo and Juliet's meeting in this version is genuinely sweet. They spot each other through an aquarium and both are immediately smitten. It's adorable.
  • Hilarious in Hindsight: Kate Winslet was reportedly a strong contender for the role of Juliet in this film, which was released a whole year before she and Leonardo DiCaprio played another tragic pair of Star-Crossed Lovers in Titanic—becoming one of the most famous screen couples in history.
  • Ho Yay: 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.
  • Narm: Has its own page.
  • Narm Charm:
    • 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. Yes, there's a lot of Narm in the film, both in the Ham and Cheese over-acting of some scenes as well as the very premise being kind of silly. But it's all done without a wink and a nod, in a way that all of the overwrought camera shots and overly dramatic framing actually makes it loop back around to working.
    • Related to the note about keeping the Elizabethan dialogue: some claim, 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.
  • Nightmare Fuel:
    • Tybalt killing Mercutio with a shard of broken glass. After Mercutio removes his hand, the bloody gash is shown to be really huge.
    • Lord Capulet’s violent outburst toward Juliet is one of the most frightening depictions in this version. Paul Sorvino definitely reacted with an animalistic fury.
  • Older Than They Think: 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 (such as the influential David Garrick adaptation) and at least two opera adaptations, Gounod's ''Roméo et Juliette'' and Bellini's ''I Capuletti e i Montecchi.''
  • Retroactive Recognition:
    • Harold Perrineau, later known as Michael Dawson and Augustus Hill, plays Mercutio.
    • Paul Rudd 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 Alanis Morissette video before he was Bunchy Donovan. There's even a scene in the video where he bears a startling resemblance to Tybalt.
    • Latin American telenovela fans might recognize that one of the bouncers at the Capulet party is played by Cuban actor Mario Cimarro, who would later become best known for his appearances in telenovelas and for starring in Pasión de gavilanes.
    • Jamie Kennedy plays Sampson, one of the Montague goons in the opening shootout at the gas station. The film released just a month before his Star-Making Role in Scream (1996).
  • Signature Scene: The scene of Romeo and Juliet spotting each other through the aquarium for the first time is easily the most iconic. And it's so cute!
  • Strangled by the Red String: Romeo and Juliet's Love at First Sight 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 1990s 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, or Romeo immediately forgetting his strong heartbreak over Rosaline’s rejection after he falls in love with Juliet at first sight.
    • The reason is still the same as it always was, they're teenagers, and their love is shallow and their actions rash, as was the point of the original play as well.

Top