The Punk and the Princess Review

Laudable though it may be, the fact that Mike Sarne chose to make this adaptation of Gideon Sam’s cult novel with a young, inexperienced crew does not excuse its amateurish indulgence and hyperbolic dramatics. Rapidly establishing itself, via the most obvious of visual clues, as a “contemporary” reworking of Romeo and Juliet — which here means driving Escorts and taking Ecstasy — the plot centres around David (Creed-Miles), a young London punk in love with Rachel (Hadaway), a nouveau riche American with a worringly pugilistic ex-boyfriend. Grasping every opportunity to ram home its overblown Shakespearian theme — at one point our modern day Romeo memorably entreats Rachel to “jump straight onto my willy” — the curious choice of Punks versus Teds (who all speak with drama school accents) as a backdrop seems strangely dated and irrelevant as a vehicle for a modern love story. In addition, there are the additional irritations of an entirely unneccesary voice-over and a multitude of smug cinematic references, presumably intended to lend a drop of credibility to the uninspired proceedings. Featuring some of the most unforgivably trite “street” dialogue, contrived working-class relationships and one-dimensional performances from its two leads, this really is little more than a glib teen angst movie with pretentions to be something greater. Perhaps if it had been made a dozen years previously it would have had more impact on the teenage and twentysomething audience it’s clearly aimed at, but post-Slacker, it’s difficult to see exactly where the appeal lies of this strangely dated and redundant attempt at chronicling modern love.