KyleAllen – Credits Rolling

We all know about Romeo and Juliet’s doomed love, right? But did you know that before Juliet, Romeo was in love with a maiden called Rosaline?

Rosaline (Kaitlyn Dever) and Romeo (Kyle Allen) were the perfect couple. They dreamed of running away together, their families be damned, if it meant they could be together forever. When he meets Juliet (Isabela Merced) at the masquerade ball, Romeo falls head over heels in love with her. Suddenly jilted by the love of her life, Rosaline will stop at nothing until she finds out who this new woman is. Who she didn’t expect it to be is her cousin.

A modern retelling of Shakespeare’s tragedy, Rosaline was actually pretty cute. Dever shone as the lead, captivating me from the get go. Her comedic timing and meddlesome ways made for some great scenes that had me giggling. I’ve seen her in a variety of projects now and I must admit that she always surprises me.

The other cast and characters were fun to get to know too. I thought it was brilliant to dumb down the role of Romeo; the way in which Allen did this added a different element to the story and made it somewhat unpredictable. Merced did a fine job as Juliet, though I would have liked to see more of her. Bradley Whitford portrayed Rosaline’s father and Minnie Driver who played Rosaline’s nurse Janet didn’t have nearly enough screen time, but who were still welcome additions. And then there was the gorgeous Sean Teale who starred as Dario. His chemistry with Dever was palpable from the very first moment they laid eyes on each other and I just couldn’t wait until they got together.

With costumes that had me truly believing I was born in the wrong century and a soundtrack that gave me major Bridgerton vibes, Rosaline was a much better film than I gave it credit for. While it wasn’t perfect all the way through and at times seemed to drag on a bit, I really did enjoy it.

Rating: ♥♥♥

Time loop stories may no longer be original, but they will always be interesting to me. I heard about The Map of Tiny Perfect Things recently and was instantly intrigued. Each version that I have seen so far of this concept has been different and I was curious to see how it would all unfold this time around. The film was certainly enjoyable though I do think I expected too much from it.

Mark (Kyle Allen) has been stuck living the same day over and over for some time now. It has gotten to the point where he almost doesn’t care what he does with his time because he’s sure that nothing will ever change. But then one day, something does happen that changes everything. Mark meets Margaret (Kathryn Newton). Turns out she is also reliving the same day Mark is. They decide to team up to try and figure out why this has happened to them and how they can break out of it.

What I liked the most about this was that the story picked up in the middle of the time loop and not at the beginning of it. We as the audience knew from the start that Mark had been stuck for quite some time now as he had adopted a similar routine for himself to follow. I think that this had more of an impact and it made me curious to find out why he was in this predicament to begin with. I also liked how Margaret was introduced and that the two of them could sort out their issues together.

While they tried to give depth to the film, I do think that there could have been more. Unlike Palm Springs for example, I don’t think that this version was different than what we have seen before. I did appreciate the fact that the two main characters really tried to focus on the smaller things in life that we otherwise don’t pay attention to, but I was hoping for more at the end of the day.

The Map of Tiny Perfect Things was a cute take on a familiar story. It was entertaining enough for an hour and a half, however I wish it had left more of an impression on me.

Rating: ♥♥♥