There have been scores (sorry) of musical adaptations of Shakespeare’s tragedy of star-crossed lovers over the centuries. Not just operas — there’s Berlioz’s dramatic symphony; Prokofiev’s ballet; the comedic jukebox musical on Broadway, “& Juliet,” in which the heroine leaves Romeo to die and chooses life for herself. “Juliet and Romeo,” from the writer-director Timothy Scott Bogart and his composer-songwriter brother, Evan Kidd Bogart, is more self-serious.
The movie begins, a narrator says, “In the year 1301” when “Italy was only an idea.” In this movie’s idea of 1301, characters jumble up modern and Shakespearean language; “Romeo, where the hell art thou,” someone from the hero’s posse shouts early on. And while “& Juliet” uses pop songs, for this picture the composers Bogart and Justin Gray try to concoct tunes that sound like those of Taylor Swift and Jack Antonoff. “There’s a whole lot of wrong here but we get it right, we get it right,” goes one lyric.
Veteran actors including Jason Isaacs, Derek Jacobi and Rebel Wilson add spice where they’re able; the costumes are colorful, and as Juliet, Clara Rugaard is fresh-faced and appealing. (As Romeo, on the other hand, Jamie Ward mostly looks like he’s trying to find a boy band to join.)
The Bogarts are sons of Neil Bogart, the blockbuster record exec who empowered both Kiss and Donna Summer back in the day. Watching this largely misbegotten movie (which seems to fulfill all of its aspirations with an utterly tacky ending), then, sometimes brought to mind the sardonic Steely Dan tune “Show Biz Kids.”
Juliet & Romeo
Rated PG-13 for salty non-Shakespearean language, one supposes. Running time: 2 hours 1 minute. In theaters.
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