Skip to main content

Rosaline review: Kaitlyn Dever lifts up Hulu’s Romeo and Juliet rom-com riff

Director Karen Maine’s new comedy, Rosaline, works overtime to find a new perspective in one of the most well-known stories of all time. The tale in question? None other than William Shakespeare’s Romeo & Juliet, which remains so iconic that its influence continues to be felt today. As its title suggests, Maine’s film does not place its focus on either of that play’s eponymous, star-crossed lovers, though, but rather on the woman who had originally captured young Romeo’s heart before he set his eyes for the first time on her cousin, Juliet.

In Shakespeare’s play, Rosaline is mentioned frequently but never given an actual line of dialogue. Here, the character is reimagined as a brash and determined young woman who refuses to simply accept Romeo’s change of heart. Instead, she sets out to win him back through any means necessary. The film, in other words, attempts to build a fairly common rom-com plot out of the most iconic love story of all time. Rosaline, to its credit, mostly succeeds at doing so, thanks in no small part to the fiery and charismatic performance given by its young lead.

Minnie Driver puts a masquerade mask on Kaitlyn Dever in Hulu's Rosaline.
Moris Puccio/20th Century Studios

When Rosaline begins, things are going pretty well for its eponymous young heroine (played here by Booksmart star Kaitlyn Dever). While her father (a lovably irritable Bradley Whitford) remains committed at the start of the film to forcing her into an arranged marriage with one of Verona’s many wealthy men, Dever’s Rosaline has grown adept at fending off all the male suitors that are sent her way. Her unwavering commitment to doing so has, consequently, left her with the freedom to not only spend her days reading about the world and its history but also continue to meet nightly with her lovestruck crush, Romeo (Kyle Allen), who is imagined strikingly well here as an unoriginal and dull young playboy.

Recommended Videos

Rosaline’s dream of running away with Romeo is dashed, however, when she realizes one night that he has left his relationship with her behind in favor of a new romance with her beautiful young cousin, Juliet (Isabela Merced). Rosaline later learns that her once-enamored admirer inadvertently met and fell in love with Juliet while attending a Capulet gathering (you know the one), which she missed while she was away on an obligatory date with a surprisingly charming and handsome war veteran named Dario (Sean Teale). This unfortunate twist of fate effectively sets the stage for the rest of Rosaline‘s story, which any well-versed rom-com fan should be able to predict without breaking much of a sweat.

That said, Rosaline is not without its surprises. By rewriting its titular heroine not as an uninvolved spectator but as an active participant in Romeo and Juliet’s tragic love story, the film, which is based on a 2012 YA novel by Rebecca Serle, finds a number of ways to cleverly subvert certain iconic beats from Shakespeare’s original play. While the film’s many subversions will likely irk all the Shakespeare purists out there as well, Rosaline manages to rewrite its iconic source material in such a playfully irreverent manner that it becomes easy to accept all of its many, many changes.

Isabela Merced stands next to Kaitlyn Dever in Hulu's Rosaline.
20th Century Studios

Dever’s lead performance also plays an integral role in Rosaline nailing its tongue-in-cheek tone. Given the all-too-rare chance to lead her own film, Dever doesn’t let the opportunity to completely walk away with Rosaline pass her by. Here, she demonstrates the same comedic chops and charisma that she memorably showcased in Booksmart. However, it’s her ability to stay true to her character’s narcissistic personality without making her wholly unlikable that allows Rosaline to work as well as it does. The film would otherwise fall apart without Dever’s performance, which quickly emerges as both the beating heart of Rosaline and its most useful source of comedy.

While the film itself could stand to shed a few of its 96 minutes, Scott Neustadter and Michael H. Weber’s script finds plenty of room for moments of genuine comedy and romance within Rosaline’s fairly formulaic narrative. Anyone who’s ever caught themselves rolling their eyes at the film’s iconic pair of young lovers will, in particular, likely delight in the ways Rosaline both plays up and pokes holes at their short-lived love story. (That’s especially true of an unexpected homage to The Graduate that Maine, Neustadter, and Weber throw out at exactly the right moment.)

Kaitlyn Dever stands on a forest road with Sean Teale in Hulu's Rosaline.
Moris Puccio/20th Century Studios

Not all of Rosaline‘s comic swings work, including one recurring gag involving an unreliable, perpetually stoned courier named Steve (Nico Hiraga). The film’s misses never end up outweighing its hits, though, and that’s largely due to how well-cast Rosaline‘s ensemble is. Supporting players like Christopher McDonald and Spencer Stevenson, for instance, turn in spectacularly over-the-top performances as Lord Capulet and Paris, respectively. Kyle Allen also gives a surprisingly pitch-perfect performance as Romeo, whom Rosaline joyfully reimagines as the ultimate Shakespearean himbo.

Rosaline | Official Trailer | Hulu

Rosaline is, in other words, a perfectly fine new take on Shakespeare’s most iconic love story. Like many of the films that seem to debut exclusively on streaming platforms these days, it’s a bit too visually bare and narratively uninventive to truly rise above its competition. However, as both a riff on one of the most well-known stories of all time and a homage to the kind of YA Shakespeare adaptations that were commonplace in the ’90s and early 2000s, Rosaline is a fun, if minor, success.

Rosaline is now streaming on Hulu.

Alex Welch
Alex is a writer and critic who has been writing about and reviewing movies and TV at Digital Trends since 2022. He was…
Wicked star Cynthia Erivo wants to play X-Men hero Storm
Cynthia Erivo wears glasses in Wicked.

Cynthia Erivo may still be experiencing a warm round of applause for her performance as Elphaba in 2024's Wicked, but that doesn't mean she doesn't already have her sights set on other, future roles. On the contrary, the actress revealed during a recent interview with the National Board of Review that she'd like to follow up her performance in Wicked by playing one of the most iconic female superheroes of all time.

"I really want to play Storm," Erivo revealed on the carpet for the National Board of Review Awards Gala in New York City. The actress went on to say that she believes the popular X-Men character hasn't yet been explored as deeply onscreen as she deserves to be. "I know it sounds frivolous, but I think we haven't uncovered how grand she is and all of that inner turmoil that she has," Erivo remarked. "So I think there's a world in which we could do something with that."

Read more
A Simple Favor 2 director disputes claim that Blake Lively film has been scrapped
Anna Kendrick points a camera at Blake Lively in A Simple Favor.

Director Paul Feig is adamant that moviegoers will still get to see A Simple Favor 2, the sequel to his Anna Kendrick and Blake Lively-led 2018 film, sometime this year. The movie's status was briefly thrown into question on Friday when a user named Eric B. posted an X thread claiming that behind-the-scenes tensions between Kendrick and Lively, as well as the latter's alleged refusal to promote it amidst her ongoing lawsuit against her It Ends With Us director and co-star Justin Baldoni, had forced Amazon to shelve A Simple Favor 2 indefinitely.

Feig used his X account to respond to the claims on Friday, writing, "This is total BS. Sorry. The movie is finished and coming out soon. Don’t believe anything you read on social media these days." When the X thread's creator responded to Feig by asking why Amazon hasn't set a release date or made any promotional plans yet "for a film that wrapped in April 2024," the director wrote back, "My friend, it’s called post-production, which generally takes over half a year at least."

Read more
Don’t let these 3 January 2025 hidden streaming movie gems fly under your radar
A man puts his fists up and prepares for a fight.

January is often considered a dead month for entertainment. Few major movies come out, if any, to the point where the month is often called "Dumpuary" because studios literally dump their least exciting projects during these otherwise dull and unimportant 30 days. Chances are, you won't find much entertainment at the movie theater, although streaming might actually offer some interesting movies this January.

What better time to check out some underrated movie gems than now, especially since no other major movie will be competing for your attention? From rom-coms produced during Hollywood's Golden Age to blood-soaked action fests, these streaming gems are begging for you to watch them. They might be well hidden, but they are certainly worthy of your time, especially in a month where truly not much else is happening.
I Capture the Castle (2003)

Read more