Movie Reviews
‘Rosaline’ Review: Meet Romeo’s Ex-Girlfriend (Yes, She’s Mad)
In Karen Maine’s wily comedy, Kaitlyn Dever shines as Romeo’s large love pre-Juliet, who has some star-crossed crap of her personal to type out.
Rosaline is talked about 10 occasions in William Shakespeare’s “Romeo and Juliet,” her title invoked at moments when it appears opportune to remind Romeo that, certainly, his coronary heart did love earlier than he set eyes on charming Juliet, and sure, his capacity to drop face-first into ill-fated amorous affairs is type of his factor. And whereas Rosaline lurks on the margins of Shakespeare’s play, she doesn’t get a single line to talk, as an alternative lowered to jilted has-been and cautionary story. However Romeo’s ex has not been forgotten within the intervening centuries, and her aspect of the story has been dramatized lots, together with the 1966 movie “Juliet in Mantua,” the play “After Juliet,” the musical “& Juliet,” and the e-book and its tailored TV sequence “Nonetheless Star-Crossed” (through which she was performed by rising star Lashana Lynch).
In Karen Maine’s “Rosaline,” tailored from Rebecca Serle’s novel “When You Have been Mine” by reigning kings of YA romance Michael H. Weber and Scott Neustadter (“The Spectacular Now,” “The Fault in Our Stars,” “Paper Cities”), Rosaline is rendered bold, humorous, scheming, clever, conniving, and really a lot value rooting for. Performed by Kaitlyn Dever, this Rosaline may be very mad certainly (why shouldn’t she be?), however the always-winning actress helps information a prickly footnote into pleasant territory. One half coming-of-age story, one half literary reconsideration, and all completely enjoyable, “Rosaline” proves there’s nonetheless lots to mine from the basic canon, with vigorous twists.
Happening “(A very very long time in the past),” as a cheeky opening credit score tells us, Maine’s model of Verona feels comparatively small-scale and contained (even quite a few sequences on the ocean really feel very green-screened and there’s a “Males in Tights” really feel to a lot of it), all the higher for Rosaline’s large dramas and petty pains to take heart stage. She’s been assembly Romeo in secret — essential reminder: Rosaline can also be a Capulet, so her cavorting with a damned Montague is simply as dangerous as when Juliet (Isabela Merced) does it in a while — despite the fact that she’s not solely offered on the dude.
Romeo (a splendidly doofy Kyle Allen) is earnest, however he’s additionally a little bit of a ham, spewing romantic traces to Rosaline that everyone knows he’ll reuse (and shortly!) along with her personal cousin, Juliet, who will show to be a bit extra receptive to them. Hell, he even woos Rosaline on her personal balcony, whereas her personal nurse (a vigorous Minnie Driver) pretends to not hear and her pushy dad (a well-cast Bradley Whitford) is at all times inches from barreling in.
“Rosaline”
Courtesy of twentieth Century Studios
Rosaline, nonetheless, is completely different from Juliet in some ways: she has profession ambitions for one, dreaming about sometime being a cartographer. Conventional-minded Romeo doesn’t appear so enthusiastic about Rosaline’s wishes outdoors of him, so when he jilts her for Juliet, Rosaline might simply drop the entire thing. Alas, her delight has been wounded, and she will be able to’t recover from the sensation that, even when Romeo isn’t exactly good for her, at the least she select him of her personal accord. She will be able to’t say the identical for the remainder of her life. For instance: yet one more potential husband her father shoves on her, satisfied his daughter is veering dangerously near be too previous to get married (olden occasions!) and wanting to get her the hell out of his manor.
As Rosaline is preoccupied with making an attempt to interrupt up Romeo and Juliet, papa Capulet introduces yet one more would-be suitor, new arrival Dario (Sean Teale), who actually doesn’t need to make off the spiky younger lady he’s compelled to flippantly romance. (You may guess the place that is going.) Maine, who beforehand directed the pleasant and charged coming-of-age comedy “Sure, God, Sure,” isn’t afraid of getting deep, darkish, and bizarre along with her feminine characters. And so whereas a few of the place the movie goes is certainly predictable, different components usually are not, like how lengthy Rosaline resists having what appears to be an inevitable maturation.
“Rosaline”
Courtesy of twentieth Century Studios
Weber and Neustadter’s script freshens up Serle’s much more dramatic e-book, with zippy outcomes. A part of that entails reorienting a few of the mythos — like how Paris (a really humorous Spencer Stevenson) got here into the image as a parentally accepted suitor for Juliet, or why Rosaline wasn’t current for a lot of key moments in Shakespeare’s authentic play, together with the masquerade the place Romeo and Juliet first meet — whereas leaning into different elements of it. “Rosaline” gained’t actually sing for anybody not accustomed to the play (hear, absolutely these folks exist someplace), however for anybody whose been fed the “romance” of Romeo and Juliet time and again, it pops.
Whereas some audiences would possibly bristle on the movie’s wackier components — Rosaline’s worry of fish; Nico Hiraga because the world’s worst courier, hilariously named “Steve” — Maine, Weber, and Neustadter’s apparent pleasure in getting foolish with Shakespeare is admirable. Why not rethink the world’s best love story? Why not have enjoyable with it? Why not take a jilted, offended lady and switch her right into a relatable heroine? Seems, even the oldest tales nonetheless have recent, feisty blood in them.
Grade: B
“Rosaline” will begin streaming on Hulu on Friday, October 14.
Signal Up: Keep on high of the newest breaking movie and TV information! Join our Electronic mail Newsletters right here.