Mjeteconer Just perfect...

ThedevilChoose When a movie has you begging for it to end not even half way through it's pure crap. We've all seen this movie and this characters millions of times, nothing new in it. Don't waste your time.

Numerootno A story that's too fascinating to pass by...

Portia Hilton Blistering performances.

mark-tauber This film is an experiment that mostly works. The three parallel universes that both the actors and we must inhabit are: an authentic depiction of the life at a military academy, the reading of Romeo and Juliet in a classroom setting, and the power of the play as it is acted out. Lots of cognitive dissonance. Of course, we humans don't like cognitive dissonance. Some people who watch this movie will be grumpy that none of the universes are fully realized. That's why this is an experiment. What would it be like if...I think some dissonance is a good thing. Brains are made to puzzle over simultaneous realities that don't fit. I think we have to accept that the three lives of this movie will never fit perfectly together. But I do agree with most reviewers that the question of real love between the two young cadets who use the cover of the play to live their attraction is central to the production. This is underlined by the writer/director's decision to rewrite the ending so that the two lovers are not killed off. The choice is a very nice break with the tragic melodramas of many gay- theme films where the gay characters are in some way lessened at the end lest we forget that gay love must be chastened in some way.Are these American actors? I think they're Canadian. I seldom see American actors capable of delivering Shakespeare's lines like they know what they're saying. But maybe I'm thinking of movie actors who, with few exceptions (Robert Downey Jr. is one) make my skin crawl when they try to do Shakespeare. And making the tenderness between Romeo and Juliet believable? Doesn't seem American to me. My only question is: Why do we get the rendition of "You Made Me Love You" at the end? Nice opportunity for one actor to sing, but what did it have to do with the movie? That's one bit of dissonance that really doesn't resolve for me.Otherwise, I'll be thinking about this movie for a long time. Something most movies these days can hardly expect of their audiences.

djd5821 Private Romeo is a wonderful experiment and another entry in the extensive library of films highlighting the timeless genius of William Shakespeare. It proves that Romeo and Juliet can be translated into almost any setting. As a movie, it is somewhat lacking. Shakespeare's play combines a perfect mix of romance, comedy and tragedy. Unfortunately, the movie only gets one of them right.The romance between Glenn Mangan (aka Juliet) and Sam Singleton (aka Romeo) is honest and believable. The actors deliver their lines as well or better than many other Shakespearean actors.But, with one exception, whatever comedy there is seems completely unintentional. The film is set in an all-boys military academy, so the lines normally spoken by female characters are instead spoken by men. Every time a person said "Juliet" or "Nurse" or "her" I was taken out of the movie and left to ponder the "experiment". Men referring to other men as females became funny after a while. Chris Bresky, who plays Omar Madsen (aka the Nurse), through no fault of his own, was often the source of this unintentional comedy. But he also has the one genuinely funny scene when he returns to Juliet to deliver Romeo's answer to Juliet's question regarding marriage. It is also one of my favorite scenes in Shakespeare's play and Bresky does it beautifully.But the movie really goes off the rails as a tragedy. In Shakespeare's original, tension is established by two warring families who will only declare peace when they each lose a child. None of this happens in the movie. Only eight students are left behind at the academy, and two of them, Ken Lee (aka the Prince) and Adam Hersh (aka Friar Laurence), are not part of either "family". It's hard to understand the tension among the other six students. Romeo and Juliet are both gay, and when they "come out" during the party, no one seems to be particularly homophobic. Carlos Moreno (aka Tybalt) is upset, but it's unclear why. Is it because they're gay? From different social classes? From different battalions? The battle between the two sides is never clearly defined and we are left to wonder what the problem is.Romeo and Juliet is a play about coincidences. Romeo goes to the party after being shown the guest list and seeing Rosaline's name. He stumbles over the wall just in time to see Juliet emerge on the balcony. He happens upon Mercutio and Tybalt in the midst of a heated argument. Friar Laurence's letter to Romeo in Mantua gets delayed. Romeo drinks the poison only moments before Juliet awakens. And the Friar arrives at the tomb too late to save Romeo and leaves too early to save Juliet. Each of these coincidences leads inexorably to the play's tragic conclusion.But no one dies in the movie, so the coincidences, such as they are, are meaningless. Since there is no tension between two warring tribes, the "deaths" of the two protagonists are meaningless. And what did their "deaths" accomplish? Upon awakening, Romeo and Juliet are in the exact same situation they were when they "died". Nothing gets resolved and no one is changed.The movie is a fine experiment, but I can't recommend it.On a final note, the acting is superb with kudos to everyone. Hale Appleman (aka Mercutio) is outstanding, and I hope to see him in other movies in the future.

Dr.William Russo Updated Shakespeare is all the rage since the days of doing Hamlet in modern dress, or the nude version. We have seen and enjoyed everything from Richard III to Coriolanus in updated fashion.A few years back we offered a course in Updated Shakespeare to English majors, and we found a growing army of updated tales on film, whether it was Much Ado about Nothing or A Midsummer Night's Dream.We even loved Leonardo DiCaprio's Romeo and Juliet, and we came with some trepidation to something called Private Romeo.The premise seemed a mite strained. A few cadets at a military academy are left alone at the campus, fending for themselves while the officers and other cadets are off on maneuvers. In one class the stranded and bereft young cadets are studying Shakespeare's romantic tragedy, and they seem to begin to live it.The idea is not so far-fetched, as the original play deals with young hothead teenage gang members in rival factions. There is a secret love story interwoven among the hostilities and budding male adolescent angst.So it is in Private Romeo. The shock of the rival gangs over Romeo's love may be more palatable because the forbidden affair is with another cadet. We found the Shakespearean dialog most apt to cover the situation.The idea of first-love being misguided and overly passionate may befit a gay tale of coming out among cadets.We can forgive a small budget movie stretching its wings, and we can even forgive a half dozen cadets looking like the Glee Club, not future ROTC members. Apart from that, the story picks up steam under director Alan Brown.Scenes from R&J are cleverly woven into conversations about Romeo's unorthodox military affair. Action plays out on basketball court and chemistry lab. Like Elizabethan times, male actors play female roles like Nurse and Juliet's mother, this time in the guise of young cadets. The actors handle multiple roles and dialog is lifted from Shakespeare to meet the situation.This brave effort features Matt Doyle as Cadet Mangan and his alter ego Juliet. Doyle is soft and vulnerable, but hardly feminine or in drag. Seth Numrich plays Cadet Singleton and Romeo. They are commendable.If all male casts disturb you, you would not have been able to appreciate Shakespeare's work played by all male casts in the writer's lifetime.

urent I recently rented this film after having discovered it entirely by accident. I admit that I am a Romeo and Juliet Junkie, but I am always open to new settings and the like. The more I delved into the film, the more attached I got to these characters. These guys were outstanding in their own way, how they played the characters, how they conveyed the poetry and making it seem completely natural. Seth Numrich and Matt Doyle perfectly conveyed the romance of Seth/Romeo and Glenn/Juliet. While some people may easily be bothered by a gay interpretation of Romeo and Juliet, I had no issues/problems with it at all. The chemistry between those two was so sweet and innocent, I could not help but be drawn into the story. For me, even if I was bothered, the poetry and the story are all that matters! Doyle in particular makes a very strong Juliet, standing up to the bullying Hale Appleman's Lord Capulet/Mercutio (also outstanding). The film is beautifully shot, with close-ups on the lover's hands as they hold and touch one another. There are plenty of other tender moments throughout. The setting is also very sparse, with the empty hallways and courtyards, like the stage is waiting for the tragedy to unfold. I won't say anything about the ending, other than I was oddly satisfied. Somehow it works. And this movie does too. I cannot wait to add it to my Shakespeare collection.