Tromeo and Juliet

Title: Tromeo and Juliet (1996)
Dir: Lloyd Kaufmann
Rating: * out of 5 stars



I saw this movie for one reason: James Gunn, who co-wrote it. I've never been a fan of Troma films, except for the brilliant Cannibal! The Musical which was 100% Trey Parker's brainchild, it just happened to be paid for by Lloyd Kaufmann. Anyway, Tromeo reminded me why I don't like Troma films.

I don't really need to go into the plot - it's basically William Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet, only with a lot of gratuitious sex and other ridiculous stuff. It's very raunchy and absurb.

I think it's cool James Gunn started out with Troma and has come so far. I can appreciate the value of "bad" movies. And I can even appreciate Tromeo's attempts to shock viewers in the way Shakespeare's plays did in his era. But I can only tolerate so much pointless stupidity. I've always hated shock without substance. That very description is Troma. Shock for the sake of shock. I dig Peter Jackson's insane old horror flicks, and I dig cheesy old B-movies, but I get nothing out of gratuitious sex, and random lesbian makeout sessions, and endless sex or potty jokes.

I gave Tromeo and Juliet one star because it did have a scene or two that made me chuckle. The best scene of the movie is one that happens to feature James Gunn. It's not funny simply because he's there, it's just a funny scene all-around. And some of the film's over-the-top violence was amusing (namely in the aforementioned Gunn scene).

I think it's really cool that Troma built itself up from the ground, and that they help fund low-budget works (they basically discovered Trey Parker and Matt Stone), and Lloyd Kaufmann seems like a pretty cool guy. But asking me to actually watch these movies is a whole other issue....