Rating: 3.5/5
“Rosaline,” which debuted on Oct. 14, 2022, retells the well-established story of “Romeo and Juliet” with a modern and more comedic tone. Directed by Karen Maine, the movie follows the main protagonists Romeo (Kyle Allen), Dario (Sean Teale), Rosaline (Kaitlyn Dever), and Juliet (Isabela Merced).
Contrary to its dramatic counterpart by William Shakespeare, “Rosaline” retells the story through Rosaline’s perspective; Rosaline is Juliet’s cousin and Romeo’s former love interest. This unique take was effective in shedding light on Rosaline’s internal conflicts. Rosaline is a bold and independent woman who dreams in having a successful career in cartography and marrying the love of her life. Despite her dreams, her family, the Capulets, are more concerned with marrying her off to the son of the Montagues family, Dario Penza. Thus, Romeo serves as her escape and represents a daring rebellion against the conservative familial norms of the Capulets. Such drama is especially similar to that of the play, but Maine’s spin-off certainly opens a new door for many, while still preserving elements of Shakespeare’s story.
As the film progresses, notable character development starts to unravel and the movie’s direction intensifies. One development is that, similar to the play, Rosaline is eventually rejected by Romeo in a cliché but still savage manner; he simply becomes too heart-broken to process the magnitude of her desires, expressed by Maine’s choice of using jokes and other corny phrases that are also attributed to Shakespeare’s style. Her choice made the movie quite amusing as there was a variety and abundance of these literary devices. Furthermore, her plot has enough substance for the viewer to recognize it as an adaptation of a famous literary work.
Toward the middle of the film, the action grows as two new characters—Juliet and Dario—enter the plot. Of course, Juliet being the one Romeo eventually pleads his love for was hysterically not-so-amusing for Rosaline. Her jealousy and anger, comparable to that of two competitive friends, was nice to see. In contrast, it was rather enjoyable to see the chivalry in Dario’s character be constantly ignored as Rosaline held an iron desire to be with Romeo.
“Rosaline” does a good job of capturing Shakespeare’s original satirical nature. In nearly all scenes including the interaction of the main protagonists, audiences can see that the pure ridiculousness and pettiness of their quarrels truly does mock the whole aspect of love. Love is reduced to nothing more than just the sum of child-like anguish with over-the-top passion. One critique is that Maine portrays this motif in a fashion overwhelmingly similar to that of the play. More unique details and less use of cliché ideas would have benefited this movie much more.
Overall the movie was enjoyable. The entire plot features a resolution comparable to that of a fairy tale—when all bad somehow turns good in the end. In the end, the tension between the protagonists, their silly desires, blind-sighted passions, and not to mention, terrible perceptions of realism, earn this movie a 3.5 out of 5 stars.