Newport Review: Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are Undead

With a title like that, how can you go wrong? Well, when I think about it, a lot of ways actually. Luckily, Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are Undead manages to avoid most of these. In a very clear case of a film that came up with a title before its plot, the film’s attempt to combine Shakespeare and vampires is silly and absurd, but thankfully, a lot of fun.

Rosencrantz revolves around a fairly simple premise: single ladies’ man, Julian Marsh, living with his dad and having lost the love of his life to a sleazy guido, takes a job as a theater director to put on a play entitled “Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are Undead". Under the eye of Theo, the theater owner, who exhibits some rather… vampiric personality traits, Julian begins to realize that all is not as it seems. Or more accurately, to the viewers at least, everything is exactly as it seems… more or less. Events soon spiral into amazingly ridiculous directions as the body count starts to rise and a truly bizarre Shakespearean conspiracy (a Shakespearacy) emerges.

As you might’ve guessed, Rosencrantz is purely a comedy, and a very silly one at that. While it seems to think it’s smarter than it really is, the surreal brand of humor at its core manages to shine through. The film might not be the brightest in a while, but it’ll most certainly have you giggling throughout this well-paced comedic affair.

The direction is solid if somewhat limited, the cast get their jobs done well enough and the writing is clever and just brainy enough to keep it engaging. Structurally, however, the film falters. Actually, strike that. The film barely has a structure at all, ambling pretty care-free from scene to scene. It kind of just wanders about, characters drifting in and out of an increasingly nonsensical narrative. For the most part, this doesn’t inhibit the film’s absurdist comedy, but it does result in a rather convoluted third act, bewildering climax and slightly unsatisfying ending. The end result is an entertaining, albeit hollow experience.

Thankfully, Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are Undead remains a solid comedy throughout. It’s clever and unique and keeps the laughs coming. Besides, if you’re going to see a film with a title like that, I think you know exactly what you’re getting into.