I saw the new West Side Story movie because it had good reviews, and I do love the song "Somewhere." Also, I heard that the Anybodys character is portrayed as a transman, so I wanted to see that. Unfortunately I was late to the movie due to a lack of parking near my theater. Overall, it was okay, but I couldn't follow a lot of the conversations that were in Spanish. The singing and dance numbers were good, though I didn't like how the Jets kept saying we should pity their hard upbringing.
Even though the plot is based on Romeo and Juliet, I just could not buy into these two characters falling instantly in love after sharing one dance at the school. Maria doesn't even know Tony's name, yet she's singing "Tonight" about how deep in love she is already. And then the next day they go on a date, and he says he wants to be with her forever; instead of being scared off by this, she pretends to marry him and pledges to be with him always. What the fuck? Then later when Maria finds out that Tony killed Bernardo in the rumble, she forgives him too quickly and even lets him stay the night. When Anita yells at Maria the next morning, I was totally on Anita's side and wanted Maria to shut up about her stupid love. Fine, you can't help loving him, but don't fucking expect Anita to forgive the guy or carry messages to him for you. What kind of manipulative sicko are you, Maria? If that's the show that's such a Broadway classic, then I'm glad I never saw it before now, because it would have ruined my love for the song "Somewhere."
In this film, by the way, that love ballad is sung by Rita Moreno's character Valentina, while reflecting on her own interracial romance with Doc. That helped a little, but overall I say thumbs down to Tony & Maria's romance. It's terrible, and the plot is horrible too. Anita's the only worthwhile character of the whole bunch.
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