Rosaline: Revisionist Rom-Com Take on Romeo & Juliet is Smart, Snappy, Fun

By Kim Hughes

Rating: A

Rosaline is a delight from start to finish, a brisk, bright-eyed, and inventive romantic comedy with constituent parts that probably shouldn’t work this well together but do.

A ribald riff on the ill-fated story of Romeo and Juliet, the film focuses instead on the title character (Kaitlyn Dever, marvelous). Jilted by the overheated, poetry-spewing Romeo (Kyle Allen) for her younger, richer cousin Juliet (Isabela Merced), Rosaline — more bruised ego than broken hearted — schemes to detonate the budding romance.

In the interim, she begins falling for the handsome but initially unwanted suitor Dario (Sean Teale), one of many would-be husbands her father is keen to entertain who in this case can match Rosaline’s witty wordplay barb for barb. Meanwhile, Rosaline’s devious machinations nudge the precarious Capulet/Montague peace towards a throwdown.

What might have tripped up director Karen Maine’s film instead powers it. Though a period piece, Rosaline is propelled by modern dialogue and music, as well as multiple tropes associated with contemporary rom-coms, such as Rosaline’s gay BFF (Spencer Stevenson) and her weary but oh-so-wise handler (Minnie Driver). The contrast feels invigorating and natural rather than stilted.

The old/new juxtapositions don’t always work (see Persuasion) but here, it serves as a gateway for unexpectedly snappy writing by Scott Neustadter and Michael H. Weber — the team behind The Fault in Our Stars — adapting Rebecca Serle’s 2012 YA novel When You Were Mine.

If there was a temptation to break the fourth wall and have Rosaline speak directly to the camera (see Persuasion again), the filmmakers wisely avoided it, instead leaving viewers fully immersed in the fleet action on screen.

The performances, though perhaps somewhat rooted in caricature, are nevertheless committed and note-perfect, especially Dever as the cynical but whip-smart ex, Allen as the doe-eyed doofus pursuer, and Merced as the sweet but simple cousin who learns the hard way that one must be very careful what one wishes for.

Most of the comedic heavy lifting falls to Rosaline’s female characters, including briefly but exceptionally Ladies Capulet and Montague — eye-rolling as their husbands pointlessly swagger and strut — as well as Driver in a small but scene-stealing role as the droll nurse who knows everyone’s secrets.

As with Lena Dunham’s recently released and equally charming Catherine Called Birdy, Rosaline makes smart narrative hay of the fact that by virtue of her gender and era, the film’s protagonist should be weak and needy, merely a bargaining chip for a lucrative marriage contract. Yet in both films, the heroines are unabashedly the nimblest minds in the room. It’s a refreshing perspective, not quite a trend but not yet hackneyed, either.

Rosaline. Directed by Karen Maine. Starring Kaitlyn Dever, Isabela Merced, Sean Teale, Kyle Allen, and Minnie Driver. Available on Hulu October 14.