I remember writing about the Rosaline movie, based on the 2010 young adult novel, back in 2011.
I did not remember calling it a “train wreck” that had not yet been “put out of its misery” :). Man, I was tough in those days! The very premise of Rosaline is that she still loves Romeo, and it’s Juliet that came into town and caused their breakup. So, you know … it has literally nothing to do with the original story other than the setting and slightly disguised character names? No wonder I didn’t have much hope for it.
Jump forward ten years, because apparently it’s still coming! Now we have a real cast – it will star Kaitlyn Dever, best known for Booksmart (which I have not seen).
I gave Ophelia the benefit of the doubt at the time, because as a general rule I think that almost all Shakespeare content, even the fictionalized stuff around the edges, has some inherent value. If it revitalizes people’s interest in the source material, I support it.
Having said that, please oh please be better than Ophelia was. I literally couldn’t finish that one, and I don’t say that about many Shakespeare-ish movies. There’s nothing new about the actual content of this movie, just a bunch of name dropping about the previous credits of the writers and director, so I can’t tell if it’s just going to be a straight teen romantic comedy? I suppose She’s The Man did ok. But wouldn’t it be great to have another 10 Things I Hate About You?
Well, I suppose it’s possible to write an interesting story here, but only if it ends when Romeo falls in love with Juliet. It would have to be a prequel. You could show what Romeo was like before he fell in love with Rosaline, then all love-sick and mopey. The sub-plot could be the feud between the houses that gets everyone in trouble. And Rosaline, instead of not caring about Romeo, could be playing coy. Just as she’s about to let her guard down and go after him, in comes Juliet and Romeo is suddenly banished. Curtain falls.