Guilty Pleasure

It’s surprising how much negative press this film gets. Everybody seems to dislike it heartily, criticise it for almost everything, or ridicule it to death. To a point where you’re almost ashamed to admit you actually quite like it. But let me be bold: I do like it. In fact, I love it!

Come on, what’s not to love! It’s a splendour of a film what with all the costumes and period features, it’s got a lot of Shakespeare, so it can’t be all that bad, it’s funny, romantic, a little sad even, it’s got loads of tongue-in-cheek references, such as Hamlet’s skull and a “Greetings from Stratford upon Avon” mug in Shakespeare’s room.

Sure, it’s not a deep film. We’re not talking Bergmanesque struggles with the meaningful questions of life, death and religion, we’re not dealing with Tarkovskian atmospheric contemplativeness. But it’s just such a joy to watch, very entertaining, and the Romeo and Juliet story may be as old as the hills, it is still a masterful story and this original telling of it deserves more praise!

Adrian