Look for critics to be widely divided on "William Shakespeare's Romeo & Juliet," with those of us in the dissenting camp being labeled as narrow-minded.

But while it is possible to update Shakespeare successfully — take a look at last year's "Richard III," in which Ian McKellen moved the action to 1930s England, during a fictional Facist coup — "Romeo's" stylized direction is so obnoxiously brash and in-your-face that it just becomes tiresome.

Let's give director Luhrmann this however — he does take risks, avoiding obvious conventions at every turn.

Luhrmann, whose Australian musical-comedy "Strictly Ballroom" was an international hit, takes a chaotic, wild-eyed approach to the material here — so wild-eyed that this film makes "The Rock" look like it was on valium.

In fact, it's so MTV maybe it should be called "Beavis & Butt-Head's Romeo & Juliet."

The setting is "Verona Beach," which is apparently meant to represent modern-day Florida (though it was filmed in Mexico City). The opening sequence sets the stage, as two warring gangs, from the rival Montague and Capulet families, do battle at a gas station. The camera zooms in and out of closeups and long shots, the action shifts between moments that are speeded-up and slow-motion, the dialogue is spewed with so much venom that the actors sometimes literally spit while delivering the thees and thous, and the quick-cut edits are dizzying.

While that's OK for a sequence or two, as Luhrmann is attempting to pull us into the chaos that makes up the lives of these two families, it rarely slows down long enough to let the exposition and Shakespeare's words take hold.

This is even more evident when he does slow down, and the power of the work is allowed to play out in relative calm. Two famous scenes most pointedly demonstrate this — the balcony scene, which Luhrmann stages mostly in a swimming pool, and the death scene, in which Romeo and Juliet are surrounded by candles, as if it's an outtake from "Like Water For Chocolate."

The performances are earnest, and though Leonardo DiCaprio looks a bit frail for the character, his delivery is highly emotional. Even better is Claire Danes as Juliet, luminous in the scene where they meet for the first time, and in perfect pitch most of the way. Also notable are Pete Postlethwaite as Father Laurence (who wears a huge tattooed cross on his back) and Harold Perrineau as Mercutio (though having him cross-dress for a costume ball is sure to be controversial).

Some of the more seasoned actors here, however, are something else. John Leguizamo as Tybalt is a caricature, Paul Sorvino as the head of the Capulet family is way over the top (especially his ridiculous hispanic accent) and many other familiar faces have little to do besides scowl (Brian Dennehy and M. Emmet Walsh among them).

It's hard not to applaud Luhrmann's intentions in taking such an outrageous stab at a classic piece and hoping to bring in teenage entertainment dollars at the box office.

But like too many movies these days, one wishes he would devote as much attention to developing characters and telling a compelling story as he does setting up fancy camera shots and working out in the editing room.