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Created May 22, 2008 12:14AM PST • Edited May 22, 2008 12:14AM PST

1. Quality

2. Summary

   Very Good 3.5

   William Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet is one of the most well known stories of the English language. There have been countless versions of the original play to try to make it innovative and different. Well if nothing else Tromeo and Juliet definitely gets the award for being the most different. It is the take on the story by the popular yet obscure film production company, Troma Entertainment. The company was wise to have it released the same year as another version of Romeo and Juliet starring Leonardo DiCaprio and Claire Danes. Both films took place in the city and used guns instead of swords, but that is where the innovations stop being so similar. Tromeo and Juliet is the anti-Romeo and Juliet and warps every idea from the original, serving to more of an outsider and anti-mainstream crowd.
   The Capulets and the Ques are two rivalry families, causing everyone in the town pain and separation. The police force is getting sick of always having to clean up messes between them. There is a hatred that goes back between the fathers of each family Monte Que (McKoy) and Cappy Capulet (Beckwith). They had a film business that they started together. They were doing very well for themselves, but Cappy got greedy. He blackmailed Monte in to signing over all of his shares of the business, and essentially his life savings to him. After that Cappy ruined the company, making films of the worst quality while Monte was nearly broke and never really bounced back.
   One night Tromeo Que (Keenan) manages to get in to a Capulet party, jealous that his girlfriend, who has just cheated on him will be there. When he sees Juliet though all of his pain seems to go away. Tromeo is determined to get to Juliet no matter what it takes. He goes to see her that night to find her in a terrible state. Her father, is a very irrational and abusive man. Juliet has been having horrible nightmares about marrying London (Gibbons) just so her father can inherit a billion dollars. These nightmares terrify her so much that she can’t help but wake up screaming. Her father, often in a drunken state, brings Juliet to the punishment room for this. The room was sound proofed when Juliet was only 8 years old so no one could hear her screams. There she is chained up and partially stripped of not just her clothes but her dignity too.
   Tromeo is not able to get her out, but they spend a wonderful night together despite the circumstances. Before he leaves though, they agree to marry each other before she has to marry London. When Juliet breaks off the engagement, London is absolutely devastated. Tromeo sets up the wedding plans and ends up crossing the paths of a vengeful Capulet. An intense and brutal fight breaks out between them and their friends and soon Tromeo is wanted for murder. In the meantime, word spreads around about Tromeo and Juliet. When Cappy finds out, he threatens to kill Juliet if she doesn’t beg London to still marry her and promise she will never speak to Tromeo again. She regrettably does so, but she meets up with Tromeo later to find a second plan of attack. They get a potion that is sure to make London so repulsed by her that he won’t want to marry her anymore. Even if she is able to trick others with this, there is no telling if Tromeo and Juliet really know enough about each other to spend their lives happily together as they wish.

4. Acting

   Great 4.0

   Tromeo and Juliet had a great cast backing it. Although, there was much more dark and perverted material involved, mocking Romeo and Juliet, Jane Jensen and Will Keenan actually showed a lot of authenticity. It almost made you believe that in this screwed up world there could still be true love, which is not something I expected to see from this film. Debbie Rochon did this same thing with Ness, the equivalent of Juliet’s nurse in the film. Her role was highly sexualized here as Juliet and her shared a sex scene. Rochon showed sincerity through this, letting us know that she loved Juliet in the same way that Tromeo did, but also cared for her enough to put her feelings and wants above her own. As much as I hated the character of Cappy Capulet in the film, William Beckwith, brought him to life very well, seeming utterly creepy, abusive, and generally out of his mind.

5. Male Stars Great 4.0

6. Female Stars Great 4.0

7. Female Costars Great 4.0

8. Male Costars Great 4.0

10. Film

    Very Good 3.5

    The dialouge was very interesting, going back and forth from actual line from the play from original dialouge that is very vibrant and edgy. I have to acknowledge the filmmakers for their work, since it is an accomplishment in itself for this movie to have any rhythm or reason to it with everything that is going on.

11. Direction Very Good 3.5

12. Play Very Good 3.5

13. Music Very Good 3.5

14. Visuals Very Good 3.5
15. Content

16. Edge

    Horrid 4.2

    The gore in the film is extreme and out there. There is one scene where one of the Capulets, who had just had his finger chopped off with a paper cutter by one of the Ques, gets his head stuck in his car, hitting everything in the street, and is eventually pushed out back on to the side walk. At this point his head is cut open, chunks of blood falling out, while he miserably tries to put his brain back in to his head. Between this there are constant jokes from marital themed porn to child molester priests. There are a lot of instances of relations or desired relations between family members. One of the Capulets longs for his sister. Cappy as well goes after his daughter and even tries to rape her. Nothing is safe or sacred in this version of Romeo and Juliet. If you want a completely different and twisted tale of the story you are used to, Tromeo and Juliet is the film for you.

17. Sex Lewd 4.2

18. Violence Savage 4.2

19. Rudeness Nasty 4.2

21. Reality

    Surreal 2.7

    If a world this dark and twisted was a reality for anyone, I would feel very sorry for them. Some of the scenes, especially with Juliet’s father can be difficult to watch. Obviously this film was made to poke fun at the original play, trying to prove this very point that it is not realistic. Everything is either darkly perverted or violent for that feeling of power and superiority. This combination in the way it is shown in the film, seems nothing sort of ridiculous. It works for the film though, which just helps make this crazy film the wild ride that it is.

22. Circumstantial Surreal 2.7

23. Biological Surreal 2.7

24. Physical Surreal 2.7