Lloyd Kaufman isn't exactly a household name. Known largely for his production company Troma Productions and the cult favorite Toxic Avenger (1984), I doubt even movie historians and supposed bastions of good taste have ever heard of him. This is largely because his films don't cater to general audiences, nor does he cater to critics. Lloyd Kaufman and his set of dream makers make films for a small but steadily growing population of fans who have grown to admire his low-brow approach to entertainment. I am one of those fans.I became a Kaufman acolyte after watching his 2006 Troma release Poultrygeist: Night of the Chicken Dead. It was a movie with so many grotesque but highly entertaining set-pieces all done with reverence towards the Rob Bottin/Stan Winston School of special effects. After watching it I immediately became interested in his filmography and sat back to watch The Toxic Avenger which was a bit of a let down but nevertheless a strong feature. Recently I watched my third helping of Kaufman's madness while staying the night at a friend of a friend's house.Tromeo and Juliet is a grungy, perverted and comic retelling of the classic Romeo and Juliet tale by William Shakespeare. Two young, star-crossed lovers from feuding families, the Montague and the Capulet, fall in love and get into a whole heap of trouble as they try to love one another in a world that forbids it. Oh and in the end they die. At least in the original they do. I tell you this because if you haven't read the play, seen the play or seen an adaptation in any medium then you deserve to have it spoiled. In the case of Tromeo and Juliet, the set up is about the same.Juliet is a member of the Capulet clan while Romeo, or rather Tromeo (get it?), is part of the Que clan. This is when things get funky. The Capulets are no strangers to incestuous love as proved in the first scene when Sammy (Sean Gunn) tries to get in the pants of his sister Georgie (Tamara Marie Watson). Juliet (Jane Jensen) is no prude herself and rolls in the hay with her lesbian lover the nursemaid Ness (Debbie Rochon) on a regular basis. But she is only a distraction from the cruel family patriarch Cappy Capulet (William Beckwith) and homicidal butcher London (Steve Gibbons), both of which want to get with her. In comes Tromeo (Will Keenan), son of Monty Que (Earl McKoy) the man robbed from the profits of Capulet's porn distribution racket. He goes to a Capulet party with his floozy girlfriend and best friend Murray (Valentine Miele) but catches the eye of Juliet and thus their romance and a lot of gore and hilarity begins.In many ways Tromeo and Juliet plays Shakespeare much like it was probably played in the 16th century. Back then the theater wasn't a refined spectacle where people were ushered to their seats, sat on their thumbs and politely applauded when the lights turn dim. No the Elizabethan theatre as it were, was noisy, grungy and even deadly. Playwrights would consider it a compliment if the audience managed to shut up for a scene or two. Otherwise the public would throw tomatoes, chant, yell and chastise any performances that didn't appeal. Thank of that next time you see a person's face dimly lit by the light of their iphone.Tromeo and Juliet brings the story back where it belongs; to the masses and for that reason is probably the best film adaptation of Romeo and Juliet I have seen. That's right; it's all leading up to that statement right there. For the cheap seats; I think this is the best film adaptation of Romeo and Juliet I have seen! It doesn't help that I'm not a big fan of the story to begin with but what's not to love about an adaptation that has someone break their head open on a fire hydrant? There's blood, mayhem, humor and cheap, cheap sex in this salacious re-imagining and there are just enough changes in the plot to both appeal to Shakespeare originalists and people who aren't fans of ionic pentameter.Of course this movie is not for anyone. If you're squeamish when faced with an actual nipple being pierced in a close-up or offended by salty language don't watch anything Troma. Yet when I look back at my time in theater and the colorful, bawdy people I knew and called my friends, I can't think of one who wouldn't enjoy Tromeo and Juliet. In my opinion, Baz Luhrmann can eat his heart out.http://www.theyservepopcorninhell.blogspot.com

Lloyd Kaufman and James Gunn give Shakespeare's classic tale of star-crossed lovers the Troma treatment, infusing the bard's play with the studio's trademark brand of gross-out gags, cartoonish violence, and sex and nudity. The result is typically tasteless and extremely juvenile, with wee, poo, fart, and penis jokes aplenty, but it also manages to be a surprisingly fun slice of nonsense, Kaufman and Gunn melding their lunacy with Shakepeare's prose to form a script that will delight Troma fans while somehow still managing to keep the whole affair surprisingly faithful to the original (at least until the ending).Okay, Shakespeare probably didn't envisage Lemmy from Motorhead as narrator of his work, nor is it likely that he ever anticipated the addition of a kiddie-fiddling priest, Juliet (the lovely Jane Jensen) making it with (T)Romeo inside a Plexiglas box, or a mutant cow/Juliet equipped with a massive schlong, but he wasn't above using vulgar tactics of his own, as evidenced by the gore-fest that is Titus Andronicus, the incestuous nature of both Pericles and Hamlet, and the countless crude sexual innuendos in his other plays. In short, I like to think Will would have appreciated Kaufman and Gunn's efforts to please their audience.

As much as I enjoyed watching this movie, it isn't a very good one. I enjoyed the way that the movie played with Romeo and Juliet and I appreciate the stylistic choices, but in the end the movie just fell flat. Although the characters and storyline are essentially the same, the movie has very little semblance to the parent script. Peppering the script with lines from the Bard's work, the movie is giving a little wink-wink, nudge- nudge to the audience. In fact, Tromeo watches Shakespearean porn. Although some audience members will not know exactly why the porn disks are punny, they will laugh because the reference is clear. From any perspective the porn disks are meant to reference Shakespeare.It's fun, but not fun enough to watch again.

This isn't the worst Troma film I've seen. It was better than Surf Nazis Must Die! but no where near the caliber of Toxic Avenger or Nukem' High. It only has a little nudity and only one good sex scene so I'd say skip this flick if you're looking for cheap thrills. You know the story, the special effects are par for an 80's B movie and the laughs are far and few between. I found myself distracted during this movie and kept checking the clock to see if it was almost over yet. Not the worst flick I've sat through but I won't be watching this again. Skip the popcorn and save the beer because even though this movie is available to watch right now from streaming Netflix it ranks too low on the T&A scale for me to recommend.