Karry Best movie of this year hands down!

Hellen I like the storyline of this show,it attract me so much

Catangro After playing with our expectations, this turns out to be a very different sort of film.

Scotty Burke It is interesting even when nothing much happens, which is for most of its 3-hour running time. Read full review

rmm-6 As with each time I see Shakespeare, it took a few minutes to get used to the Elizabethan English, but after a while, I got the rhythm of the language and enjoyed this movie more and more as it went on. The acting by every single actor is simply wonderful. I really felt for the characters. And though the American military academy setting seems odd for Romeo and Juliet, it worked given the prohibition on being out in the US military at the time the movie was made.And - spoiler coming - I was brought to tears when Romeo woke up at the end. Gay or straight, young love deserves to survive. And in this case, young gay love surviving in the military sends a strong, positive message. I doubt Shakespeare would have minded.

dejagerhw1 First of all, I was truly excited when hearing about this film, however, having finally started watching it, I was in fact very confused about what was unfolding in front of me on the screen. I did not expect Shakespeare in this setting, however I was intrigued, so I set to watch the film.It took me a good few minutes to figure out the characters in both the Romeo and Juliet setting as well as the Private Romeo setting. Numerous actors play numerous characters which makes it that much more confusing and constantly during the film you see the students reading the play and then the play takes place in real time and real life. This i did not understand. Is the idea that they portray the story of Romeo in Juliet as they read it in class? Is this supposedly happening in real life ironically while they are busy discussing Romeo and Juliet in class? The concept of Romeo and Juliet in this setting has its moments in which it works and then moments where it fails. The entire point of Romeo and Juliet is about two star-crossed lovers whose fate is bound in the fact that their love is forbidden because of a feud between their families. In this situation that feud which binds the entire story together transcends to, I presume, the lack of accepting gay love in a military school setting but is not brought across very well. With the exception of the Tybalt character all the boys are for it and tries to help the two lovers.Many of the iconic moments of Shakespeare's play is lost and could have been done better. The lovers meeting was sudden and unexpected with no build up and happened in an awkward setting. The monumental balcony scene takes place in a classroom and lacks the tantalizing secrecy of two lovers doing wrong in the night. But for that same matter there are moments that were presented very well. The fight scene between Mercutio and Tybalt was good and then between Tybalt and Romeo. The lovers waking up after Romeo's banishment was done beautifully. Juliet's drinking of the elixir that fakes death was brilliant and spell binding and kudos to Matt Doyle for doing that so well.The film has a happy ending with the two lovers reuniting and then Juliet sings a random love song.What saves this movie in my opinion is that the acting is brilliant and the delivery of the Shakespearean lines are done very well. It is worth mentioning that Hale Appleman steals the show and is mesmerizing to watch as Mercutio.In concept I loved the film, but I feel that it lacked structure which in effect made the film loose and chaotic. It is a brilliant idea that was executed, not poorly, but far from brilliantly. Maybe what could have happened was to shoot it in two different "dimensions". The reading of the play in the classroom and then the real life execution of the play in the military academy setting.But all in all, you will either love it or hate it. Despite its faults, I enjoyed the film. I just wish that it had more structure.

jm10701 I LOVE this movie. I loved it the first time I watched it, and I've loved it even more each of the three times I've watched it since then; it continues to astonish me.The adaptation of Romeo and Juliet to an all-boys' military academy is very effective, and Seth Numrich (Sam/Romeo) and Matt Doyle (Glenn/Juliet) have the most electrifyingly romantic scenes I've seen in a long time - maybe ever. Hale Appleman (Josh/Mercutio) is riveting, the best actor in a very gifted cast (all of whom are young New York theatre actors who had prior experience with Shakespeare on stage).Familiarity with Romeo and Juliet will help a lot in following the fast-moving and sometimes chaotic story, and multiple viewings are well worth the time and effort.Many people who don't like Private Romeo just don't like Shakespeare, which is understandable in a generation raised on reality TV and crap like Avatar and the superhero/action movie that gets remade under a different title several times every year.At the opposite end of the spectrum, serious devotees of Shakespeare may have a problem with the liberties taken, not only in the male Juliet but in the slightly changed ending; but they cannot fault the amazing spirit of this movie - Shakespeare would be writing an even more glowing review if he were here. For people who love Shakespeare but are okay with free adaptations and low budgets, this is about as good as it gets. Even intelligent straight people may like it.The "balcony" scene is especially glorious, the most perfect mating of language and feeling I have ever seen; but all four or five of their love scenes are revelations. I wish I had a hundred stars to lavish on this most excellent little movie.(People who see elements of the defunct "don't ask - don't tell" policy of the US military are projecting their own issues onto the movie, which contains not even the slightest hint of homophobia. The fact that both the lovers are male is in no way the cause of any conflict in Private Romeo. Somewhat as in Shakespeare, it's a rivalry between cliques in the school and has nothing whatsoever to do with the sex of the lovers.)

VikenMekhtarian I am but 5 minutes Private Romeo watching and find myself wholly enthralled! There is true inspiration and crafty artists at work here... I feel I have hit upon a Jewel of the Bard. I will, a full review, compose later Anon! Alas, IMDb does not permit my premature prose of this work of fantastic marriage. I must twice five lines of words write before the auditor will allow a go. A promise I leave here to fill these blank boxes with words of wonder. To honor the integrity of this site, I will complete the rest of the review in quick verse, only to be revisited shortly with well paced praise. Why you ask I praise so highly a piece I have hardly held? When what you seek is true beauty in the art form, you need be but blind to not see the essence of that beauty which flares from this film, even if shadows on the wall is all you are treated to. This is Romeo and Juliet told in verse, in towels, in locker rooms and English classrooms, at a military academy for a few fair lass' in love. The script is superb and the words are Shakespeare - I don't want it to end