‘Rosaline’ Review: O Romeo, Romeo, Thank U, Next – The New York Times
Kaitlyn Dever performs Romeo’s snarky ex-lover on this Shakespeare reimagining, which crosses its supply materials with present-day sensibilities.
For by no means was a narrative of extra woe than this — and I’m not speaking in regards to the trysts of Romeo. “Rosaline,” Karen Maine’s hapless Shakespeare reimagining, phases historical past’s most well-known romance from the novel perspective of Rosaline, Romeo’s jilted ex. It’s a intelligent sufficient gimmick. However in taking part in out the reverie, the film epitomizes a du jour Hollywood adaptation fashion that’s nothing in need of agonizing, planting one foot within the supply materials and the opposite in a cheeky Twenty first-century sensibility.
Like different half-modernized traditional works, “Rosaline” strands its irreverent millennial characters in a stuffy olde world. Assume “Enchanted” in reverse: Clad in opulent chemises, bodices and waistcoats, Rosaline (Kaitlyn Dever) whines, cusses and flails by means of Verona, egged on in her diablerie by her world-weary nurse (Minnie Driver) and sassy sidekick, Paris (Spencer Stevenson). When Romeo (Kyle Allen), Rosaline’s then-paramour, tries to woo her with clean verse, she squints and cuts in, “Why are you speaking like that?” The engine of this film is snark, and Dever, overtaxed with carrying the comedy, brings a dauntlessness to the function, even throughout extra daft moments.
Romeo snubs Rosaline for Juliet (Isabela Merced). Paris proposes. The Montagues conflict with the Capulets. a lot of the remaining, although Rosaline’s courtship with a neighborhood hunk named Dario (Sean Teale) and a puerile, eager-to-please third act are a number of the film’s greater breaks with custom. Shall I evaluate the screenwriters Scott Neustadter and Michael H. Weber (“(500) Days of Summer season”) to the Bard? I’d reasonably not.
Rosaline
Rated PG-13. Operating time: 1 hour 35 minutes. Watch on Hulu.
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