It’s rare for a story as constantly retold as “Romeo and Juliet” to get a modern spin that attempts to go in an original direction with the source material. However, 20th Century Fox’s new teen rom-com on Hulu – “Rosaline” – manages to do just that.
“Rosaline” follows the events of the classic Shakespearean tragedy, this time from the point of view of first-act character Rosaline (portrayed by Kaitlyn Dever), the young woman of Romeo’s infatuation in the days leading up to his first encounter with Juliet at the Capulet Ball.
Rosaline’s perspective creates a story much more jaded and revenge-driven than the standard “Romeo and Juliet” adaptation, focusing on her anger towards Romeo for abandoning and cheating on her with Juliet. Ultimately, her end goal is to break up the couple so that she can have Romeo for herself.
With the film being a comedic take on Shakespeare’s story, the story of “Rosaline” is far from an exact retelling of the well-known play. Instead, it acts more as a springboard for what boils down to a relatively standard teenage rom-com that just happens to have the backdrop of 16th-century Verona, Italy.
There are a number of original characters and creative liberties that ”Rosaline” takes in order to further the development and tale of its title character. Significant moments in the original play, such as the duel and death of Tybalt, are purposely not shown on screen. What is seen, though, is Rosaline’s impact leading up to the events, as well as her decisions and their consequences following the events of the original story.
This makes for an interesting version of the tale that gives audiences a general idea of the major plot points happening behind the scenes while also having its focus primarily shifted away from the romance at hand.
In terms of being a teenage rom-com in 2022, it somehow manages to create a tone that feels like a combination of the classic movies of the genre from the ‘90s, such as “Clueless” and “She’s All That,” and the modern made-for-streaming entries to the genre, such as the “To All the Boys” trilogy. It makes for an interesting dynamic that is honestly in some ways refreshing when compared to other recent rom-coms like “The Kissing Booth” trilogy and “He’s All That.”
Overall, the major thing holding “Rosaline” back is, ironically, its premise in itself. While it makes for a solid initial pitch with some comical moments and sequences, there is really only so much you can do with the characters and setting of “Romeo and Juliet.” Also, it only makes sense that a number of original characters would be added and introduced in order to add more life to the world at play.
It’s a premise that frankly doesn’t have any right being a feature-length film and instead feels like it falls more in line with a silly YouTube video that you would find in the early 2010s. There’s just not a lot of meat on this premise, and you can feel the film looking for anything to do to pass the time for what is already a pretty average 96-minute runtime.
Nevertheless, I would still regard “Rosaline” as a film with considerably higher quality than the other recently released teenage rom-coms of the streaming era, and a film that you might just consider worth your time.
