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Romeo And Juliet (PG)
Directed by Carlo Carlei
3 Stars
It Feels like Shakespeare's Romeo And Juliet has been done to death on film and yet the productions that spring vividly to mind are Franco Zeffirelli's 1968 version and Baz Luhrmann's 1996 modern interpretation.
This latest is described as the first classic adaptation since Zeffirelli's and yet it lacks the Italian director's vision and controversy.
Directed by Carlo Carlei and adapted for the screen by Downton Abbey writer Julian Fellowes, this is a safe and solid reworking of the Bard's tragic love story which doesn't do anything new.
Set in Verona, it stars Hailee Steinfeld and Douglas Booth as the doomed lovers. Steinfeld struggles with the complicated dialogue, rushing to get it over and done with, while Booth delivers Shakespeare's verse with the passion and ease of a seasoned pro.
Yet his handsomely chiselled looks and his full, pouting mouth are truly distracting - you know all is not well when Romeo is more beautiful than Juliet.
The essential problem with this adaptation is that it is pretty vanilla, despite Damian Lewis, Paul Giamatti and Lesley Manville's efforts to add some life and colour to it.
It leaves the impression that it has all been done before and more memorably.
Maria Duarte
