Those who are familiar with Shakespeare know that over half of his plays are comedies even Romeo and Juliet, an intended tragedy, is full of humor (except when it's not). We are aware from the beginning that the film is meant to be dramatic, even before we witness the catastrophic ending. Followed by Juliet waking up, seeing Romeo lying dead on the table, and committing suicide, as well. Because of this, we wait in suspense (if we're already familiar with the play's plot, which I'm assuming we are) for Romeo to reach Juliet, see her lying dead on the table, and commit suicide. At this point, we know information that Romeo doesn't because he never receives the letter notifying him of Juliet's intention to fake her own death.

As the audience, we observe omniscient narration through dialog between characters in different scenes. After Romeo was banished, we watch him play his own form of baseball at his trailer outside of town while Juliet concocts a plan with the priest back in Verona. In this specific narrative, it appears that the only narrator is the camera. While the script has stayed true to Shakespeare's original and familiar composition, director Baz Luhrmann and co-screenwriter Craig Pearce adapted a contemporary setting and style for the 1996 film, incorporating important cinematic techniques that could not be embodied on stage back in the late 1500s.

In this modern take on William Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet, two star crossed lovers are forced to hide their affection from the inevitable wrath of their feuding families, only to meet an unfortunately tragic end.

Romeo and juliet screenplay