Odd that I never saw this, as I consider myself a Baz Luhrman fan. The first half is radical flash and mayhem — wonderfully constructed, lots of fun. Mercutio is a drag queen!!! The second half is more traditional, and that works, too. Great to see Paul Sorvino, Brian Dennehy, and M. Emmet Walsh (!) in small parts. If I must point out flaws, it is as follows (and don’t yell): Clare Danes is adoreable, gorgeous, beautiful. . .but she ain’t up to snuff here. This just isn’t (or wasn’t) in her skillset. Points for trying and overall points to Luhrman for a dynamite production.
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Welcome
Jordan Hoffman is a New York-based writer and film critic working for The Guardian, Vanity Fair, Thrillist, Times of Israel, NY Daily News and elsewhere.
He is the host of ENGAGE: The Official Star Trek Podcast, a member of the New York Film Critics Circle and challenges you to a game of backgammon.
I could not believe how much I enjoyed this as well. I saw it a few weeks ago on Starz while there was nothing else to watch. I have to disagree with you about the cast, R+J in the play are young teenagers and both of the leads portrayed them perfectly.