Tromeo and Juliet (1996) * Weird & Wacky * Shakespeare Blog-A-Thon!

If that doesn't say true love... I... I just don't know what does...

Genre: Exploitation Comedy Romance

Starring: Will Keenan, Jane Jensen

Directed By: Lloyd Kaufman (The Toxic Avenger; Class of Nuke 'Em High)

Overview: Troma Studios, makers of gore flicks galore, decides to take a stab at this Shakespearean classic.

Performance:

Troma Studios, creators of Toxic Avenger, the mutated mop-wielding hero, up and decides to bite off far too much than they can chew and hit Willy Shakes with their interpretation. Well blow me away, I had no idea how good the acting was... comparatively. There's this one actor who plays the suitor, London (Paris of yore), who is so hilarious in his expressions and delivery, I have no idea why he isn't a comic star today. As for the main star-cross'd lovers themselves, when they revert to the Olde Englishe and recite their professions of love to one another... it's actually quite, amazing. Really. They can actually act.

And above all things it's narrated by Lemmy... of Motorhead, yeah.
Rating: 8

Cinematography:

Très low budget, and très trash - in that fantra-ultastic way. If you don't know trash, what they do is cram all their money in choice scenes, so when they do spend the money, it's in the gore rather than the sets, and that's the point I guess, especially since it's so well done, but bad.
Rating: 6

Script:

This is what blew me away. Literally, actually, quoting Shakespeare. Now 9th graders can watch this instead of reading the play and write an essay on Romeo And Juliet. They'll fail but they would have failed anyways and this is tons more fun, especially when you swap Paris the betrothed suitor with London the butcher shop-owning fiancée... There's even some new content! Why Shakespeare didn't leave it in the original I'll NEVER KNOW! What a great new script!
Rating: 8

Plot:

Um, I believe the original source material was a little known tale of a boy who meets a girl, and it's love at first sight...but see he's a Jet and she's in a rival gang called the Capulets, and it's good because it's all about inter-racial relationships, Richard Dawson and a priest's potion and of course the hairdresser who has a lesbian scene with Maria. And lots of people die, but not the people you expected.
Rating: 7

Mood:

'Mood setting' is such a subjective thing, you know? I mean take The Wizard of Oz for example. Each version is unique. With an all-black cast, it appeals to inner city audiences, and with a Pink Floyd soundtrack, well that's pretty much nailing the 18-25 stoner whitey demographic. What I'm getting at is you'd better be into this kind of stuff already since it's so ultra-specific to a very small sub-culture. If you don't know whether or not you like C-grade film, you probably don't. For the rest of you, welcome home, Dorothy.
Rating: 8

Not only did they have a penis monster (monster penis?) in the film, but they mounted it for an art show!

Overall Rating: 74% (So Tromantic!)

Aftertaste:

As I do with most of my Blog-A-Thons, I invite you continue your perusal of other Shakespearian titles in the Filmsquish archives. Amazing 'proper' Shakespearean plays-made-film like Titus and Merchant of Venice are perfect examples of this playwright's talents, whereas the Canadian great, Strange Brew is a fine look at a Shakespearian plot taken all too liberally with hilarious results. Yes indeed, a film about two bunglers (Rosencrantz and Guildenstern?) going to Elsinore Brewery while a sinister family plot unfolds - ghosts included - is more than a little reminiscent of Hamlet.

This post is part of the William Shakespeare Blog-A-Thon happening over at Coffee, Coffee and More Coffee. GO!