Rosaline Review: Takes The Best Way To Reinterpret The Classic With The Agility Of The Modern
Stars: Kaitlyn Dever, Isabela Merced, Sean Teale
Director: Karen Maine
Streaming Platform: Hulu and Disney+
Filmyhype.com Ratings: 3.5/5 (three and a half stars) [yasr_overall_rating size=”large”]
Yes, Rosaline from Hulu another reworking of Romeo and Juliet, nothing more and nothing less. Let’s step into the shoes of a screenwriter for a moment: you must write a new version, so to speak, of Shakespeare’s iconic work, which is ubiquitous in both cinema and theater, what do you do? Million-dollar question; in a nutshell, if anyone had a fresh and convincing answer, they would probably be working as a top jewel for a major or rising indie star. But, in fact, how do you take advantage of a license already gutted far and wide by actors, writers, directors and critics? Rosaline, the film directed by Karen Maine that lands on Hulu and Disney+ on October 14, is not one of the possible solutions to such a dilemma, because it has chosen the bizarre way of mixing any immediately viable answer.
Distract attention from the famous duo of protagonists? Done. Draw inspiration from some recent historical comedies to offer some healthy humor. Present. Borrow the tritest structure of the classic rom-com? On the agenda also this item must be checked. Does the whole work? Here, the problem perhaps lies right here. In this fresh and comic retelling of William Shakespeare’s classic, directed by Karen Maine and written by Scott Neustadter and Michael H. Weber, Rosaline wants to tell us how she tried to thwart this unwanted plot twist and get her man back. The woman Romeo set his eyes on before being eclipsed by Juliet is only mentioned in Shakespeare’s tragedy and that is why, as we will see in our review of Rosaline, she needs to revive through comedy.
Rosaline Review: The Story
Independent, outspoken and ambitious, this version of Rosaline (Kaitlyn Denver) rejects suitors who are introduced to her by her father, eager to marry her as soon as possible. But she dreams of cartography and a love match that doesn’t stifle her fulfillment. She thinks she is in love with Romeo (Kyle Allen), but she feels restrained when he declares himself too quickly. The arrival of Juliet (Isabela Merced) will trigger her jealousy and some pranks, which will be witnessed by characters already known as Paris (who is here a gay friend played by Spenser Stevenson) or newcomers like the seductive Dario (Sean Teale) and a chatty nurse (Rosaline’s, not Juliet’s) played by Minnie Driver.
Rosaline is not exactly a reinterpretation of Romeo and Juliet: it is a successful experiment for the young audience that puts a character on the sidelines in the foreground, making him memorable. Eccentric and metatextual, Rosaline manages to mix modernity with 14th-century Verona and nothing of what we are told is forced, heavy, or out of place. Here William Shakespeare’s play is a playground and Rosaline is simply a girl who finds that sometimes getting on the slide is the fun part.
We are in Verona and, on a placid and silent night, a young Romeo (Kyle Allen) approaches a balcony and calls his beloved. She appears, helps him climb the balcony and passion breaks out, complete with a passionate declamation of a love that will last forever, which will be sung in the millennia to come, the one between Romeo and Rosaline (Kaitlyn Dever). A relationship perhaps not exactly an admirable example of stability, as for a series of unfortunate events the bold Montecchi at a masked ball will not meet the gaze of his beloved, but of his cousin always belonging to the family of the Capulets Juliet (Isabella Merced). You already know the story, right? Too bad that Rosaline has no intention of losing her loved one without fighting and she begins to plot a long series of tricks to win him back.
Now, it is interesting to note how the film immediately makes it clear that it is a very light comedy in tone, with Rosaline reprising Romeo to speak in a way that is too articulate and abstruse. And just as quickly a faint spark of hope exploded in us, later confirmed by other gags that are inspired by the type of peculiar humor used, for example, recently in the wonderful Dickinson of Apple TV+, a comedy therefore based on proposing a sensitivity, a language and elements – primarily music, with good synth-pop tracks – taken from contemporaneity in a historical context much earlier than ours.
This includes the sometimes cynically hilarious responses of Rosaline’s father (Bradley Whitford), the overly direct and honest ways of the nurse ( Minnie Driver ), the constant bickering, even rather acidic, between the protagonist and the suitor Dario ( Sean Teale ); in short, this part of Rosaline works and is very pleasant to see, although she takes too much inspiration from a series like Dickinson to the point that it is difficult in certain scenes – the party, her behavior with potential husbands – to draw the right line between inspiration/quote and almost carbon copy. It is the rest that is immersed in a sea of carelessness and mediocrity, devoid of any distinctive element, of flashes that can distance the film of Maine from the aura of a generic rom-com.
Among other things, not a genre in which it is possible to find a shortage of exponents, on the contrary, it is a continuous factory of new releases and unfortunately, therefore, some tasty intuition is not enough to differentiate, unless you are strenuous fans of the trend. A mediocrity then permeates a little every aspect of the film, starting from Spartan settings that make a monumental effort to immerse the viewer in that context, when instead one could easily succumb to the charm of a Verone around 1300. In Rosaline, by this charm, there is no trace.
Rosaline Review and Analysis
Interestingly, the film does not completely abandon Shakespeare’s prose. We hear pieces of contemporary music, and a typical slang language is used, but some fragments of the original work are wisely exploited for comic or narrative purposes. Indeed, the best part of this film is that it takes the premise of one of the best-known love stories in existence and upholds its nobility of soul. Rosaline, our heroine, comments on the plot holes, the never-perfect timing of the characters, and, of course, the senseless plan the two lovers have come up with. Rosaline is us: she is annoyed but, when she realizes that her destiny is elsewhere, she cannot give up believing in the love of Romeo and Juliet.
Using an unpublished narrator, Rosaline shows a feminist and feminine understanding of the figure of young women with desires, fears, and worries, but who are not afraid to make their voices heard. Rebecca Serle introduced much of this in her 2013 young adult novel “When You Were Mine,” which screenwriters Michael H. Weber and Scott Neustadter (“The Spectacular Now”) adapted, translating Serle’s contemporary setting into the Middle Ages. in which the story of Shakespeare’s two lovers finds space.
But the film’s captivating character also owes a lot to its lead character Kaitlyn Dever, who plays Rosaline’s sarcasm and independent personality with flawless comedic timing, echoing her marvelous performance in Booksmart – Olivia Wilde’s Loser Revenge. Secretly flirt with the romantic Romeo, of whom we know a version suspended between the archetype of the old-fashioned boy and the fu** boy caliber typical of young adults, played by an affable Kyle Allen, who sports a deliberately ridiculous Prince Charming bob. Still, stubborn Rosaline longs for a free and adventurous life outside of family boundaries – not unlike Disney’s Princess Jasmine – by refusing to be bound by an arranged marriage. When she meets the numerous octogenarian suitors that her father Adrian (Bradley Whitford) prepares for her, Rosaline hopes to frighten them with made-up stories, such as that of her imaginary friend whom she cannot separate from.
Giulietta (Isabela Merced), dressed in a traditional and witty fashion, soon enters the scene, presenting a delicate contrast to Rosaline’s long, unruly locks, dull posture and provocative demeanor. But it is perhaps precisely in the relationship that she will establish with her cousin, which releases all the female synergy in which the film is immersed, that Rosaline reveals her best cards. In the unpredictable game between enemy-friends, which is also a sharp contrast between the classic and the modern, we see how adapting means above all understanding: a stylistic and narrative intent but, more than anything, the link between two different types of heroines, which would never have occurred to us to associate. Taking Romeo out of the equation, what remains? Perhaps, not exactly a love story, but a story of friendship, unexpected, full of unexpected events and with an indissolubly feminine cut.
Rosaline Review: The Last Words
Rosaline manages to be at the same time the umpteenth reworking of Romeo and Juliet and the umpteenth rom-com of this historical period. And it is by no means a great combination, even though the beginning of the film had ignited a genuine spark of interest and hope in us: Rosaline is a light comedy that takes its cue for example from the humor of a wonderful series like Dickinson of Apple TV +, that is, in a historical context far from our times, it exploits a sensitivity, a language and even real elements typical of contemporaneity. When the title manages to showcase this peculiar humorous streak it works and is very pleasant to see, full of jokes that range from cynical to a touch of acidity. The problem is the sea of genericity that surrounds this core, starting from the settings not very inspired by the characters characterized little and badly, to then reach the very structure of the work, a trite and retired romantic comedy which, however, lacks a real central part. In short, good humor is not enough to save the shack, unfortunately.
