Growing up, I used to think Romeo and Juliet was an actual story about lovers. It wasn't until I was older that I realized it was a fictional tragic love story written by Shakespeare.
Over the years, there have been several retellings and remakes of the love story, including a popular one starring Leonardo DiCaprio, which I have yet to watch. In the midst of all these remakes and retakes, I've never seen the story told from the perspective of another, Romeo's ex-girlfriend, Rosaline.
This self titled movie by Hulu is about Rosaline, Romeo's ex girlfriend and apparently Juliet's cousin as she narrates the famous love story from her point of view and how she contributed to the story.
The movie is full of details that don't fit with the time period. This flippant use of different inconsistencies in every part of the movie walks the line between being funny and not paying attention to details. But it skips all the formalities of traditional Shakespeare that some people might not like, so that's something it has going for it.
The movie makes fun of these romance clichés while also using them. By putting Rosaline and Juliet's love stories next to each other, the movie can look at how their romances are different. Rosaline's love for Romeo was more cautious and thought-out, while Juliet's love for him was a full-on swan dive. Both characters look at what happens when people romanticize love to the point where they can't see how it really makes them feel.
The film clearly had a low budget, as there were few locations and the main characters were reused. The acting falls short sometimes, the dialogue is modern (which I really don't mind), the score and soundtrack are versions of modern songs, and the characters in Verona have accents from the South to Britain.
Rosaline is always very stubborn, and her sincere self-belief and funny one-liners make her seem like a narcissist. Even though Juliet is misguided and has a lot of layers, she is still able to match Rosaline's spite.
All of these things are fun to watch.
I can't say that Rosaline will join the list of Shakespeare adaptations that became classics in their own right, but it does have something that so many love stories of the past and present don't: a big dose of fun. The movie is a cute watch, just for laughs, and something you can watch to while away time.