海角大神

The story of two star-crossed lovers seems to be everywhere at the moment, with a new film version adapted by 鈥淒ownton Abbey鈥� creator Julian Fellowes opening this week, a Broadway version of the show starring Orlando Bloom having opened Sept. 19, and an off-Broadway incarnation starring Elizabeth Olsen set for an Oct. 16 opening.

Just about every person who passed through freshman year of American high school knows the story of "Romeo and Juliet." Warring families, two teenagers meet at a party, missed messages, poison, dagger, curtain.

And isn鈥檛 that kind of the problem by now? Movie adaptations of the play have been inexhaustible, to say nothing of the stage versions. The most remembered film adaptation today may be the 1968 movie starring Leonard Whiting and Olivia Hussey (which also seems to be the version everyone watches freshman year of high school), which was directed by prolific Shakespeare helmer Franco Zeffirelli. That version is a good one and it鈥檚 one of the last movies to adapt the story traditionally.

Besides that, movies adapting Shakespeare鈥檚 play around that time and after seemed to need some kind of gimmick. The 1961 film version of 鈥淲est Side Story,鈥� which is of course an updated, musical version of 鈥淩omeo and Juliet,鈥� set the action in 1950s New York and cast the two warring families as gangs, one American and one Puerto Rican, fighting over turf. The characters followed the beats of Shakespeare鈥檚 story, mostly, but spoke in present-day language. (The musical and movie are, of course, both brilliant.)

When 鈥淕reat Gatsby鈥� director Baz Luhrmann took on the story for his 1996 movie, he called it by Shakespeare鈥檚 title 鈥� well, kind of; he added a 鈥�+鈥� between 鈥淩omeo and 鈥淛uliet鈥� to make it cool for the kids 鈥� and set the action in what was then the present day, late 鈥�90s California. The actors wore Hawaiian shirts but spoke in Shakespeare鈥檚 original words.

The newest movie starring Douglas Booth and 鈥淭rue Grit鈥� actress Hailee Steinfeld is set in Renaissance Italy and boils down Shakespeare's words a bit. This doesn鈥檛 help the film, though, according to critics 鈥� the movie has a score of 42 out of 100 so far on the review aggregator site and Monitor reviewer Peter Rainer gave it a C-, writing that the movie 鈥渓acks heat, romance, eroticism, or lyricism.鈥澛�

Reviews for Orlando Bloom and Condola Rashad鈥檚 stage version of 鈥淛uliet鈥� have been middling as well, with critic Ben Brantley calling it 鈥渓opsided鈥� and writing that it 鈥渘ever acquires the fiery, all-consuming urgency that 'Romeo and Juliet' should deliver,鈥� though he called Bloom 鈥渇irst-rate鈥� and Rashad 鈥済ifted.鈥�

Many factors make up the whole of a movie or play, and it鈥檚 easy to say that with a different director or different actors, the current film version or Broadway play might have gone better. But could we just give 鈥淩omeo and Juliet鈥� a rest for a little while instead? Joss Whedon just took on the comedy 鈥淢uch Ado About Nothing,鈥� but we haven鈥檛 had a good version of 鈥淢idsummer Night鈥檚 Dream鈥� in a while or 鈥淭welfth Night.鈥� Or if audiences want a tragedy, how about 鈥淎ntony and Cleopatra鈥� or 鈥淢acbeth鈥�?

Let鈥檚 leave those poor teenagers alone for a little while.