Overview
A celebration of love and creative inspiration takes place in the infamous, gaudy and glamorous Parisian nightclub, at the cusp of the 20th century. A young poet, who is plunged into the heady world of Moulin Rouge, begins a passionate affair with the club's most notorious and beautiful star.
I was really disappointed in this movie. I generally like musicals and have enjoyed many of them in the last several years (La La Land, The Greatest Showman and Mama Mia! Here We Go Again, to name a few). In reading the reviews for this film I can see that it definitely has a love-it-or-hate-it feel to it and you can count me in the latter. Roger Ebert described the experience of watching it as “like being trapped in an elevator with the circus”. Inexplicably he thought this was would be a good thing. And therein is the biggest problem that I had with it – at times it was complete sensory overload (especially the first 20 minutes). Is it impressive on some level? Sure, I guess it is if you’re into seeing repeated tight shots of a lot of people dancing. It also tried to add a comedic feel in some of the dancing scenes – again, it was sensory overload. The movie’s best scenes were the ones where there was little production and instead focused on the acting and singing. I get the the film is supposed to be campy but it can’t have it both ways. The cheese and the sensory overload completely took away from the storytelling. I could actually see this being a decent stage musical once the over-the-top production is removed.
I’ve also seen reviews where people said that despite its flaws it is an original idea. I can’t classify a musical that re-interprets someone else’s music as being “original”.
IHATEBadMovies.com reviews Moulin Rouge!
Movie title: Moulin Rouge!
Movie description: A celebration of love and creative inspiration takes place in the infamous, gaudy and glamorous Parisian nightclub, at the cusp of the 20th century. A young poet, who is plunged into the heady world of Moulin Rouge, begins a passionate affair with the club's most notorious and beautiful star.
Date published: 2021-02-27
Director(s): Baz Luhrmann
Actor(s): Nicole Kidman, Ewan McGregor, John Leguizamo, Jim Broadbent, Richard Roxburgh, Garry McDonald, Jacek Koman, Matthew Whittet, Kerry Walker, Caroline O'Connor, Christine Anu, Natalie Mendoza, Lara Mulcahy, David Wenham, Kylie Minogue, Ozzy Osbourne, Deobia Oparei, Linal Haft, Keith Robinson, Peter Whitford, Norman Kaye, Arthur Dignam, Carole Skinner, Jonathan Hardy, Plácido Domingo, Kiruna Stamell, Anthony Young, Dee Donavan, Johnny Lockwood, Don Reid, Tara Morice, Daniel Scott, Veronica Beattie, Lisa Callingham, Rosetta Cook, Fleur Denny, Kelly Grauer, Jaclyn Hanson, Michelle Hopper, Fallon King, Wendy McMahon, Tracie Morley, Sue-Ellen Shook, Jenny Wilson, Luke Alleva, Andrew Aroustian, Stephen Colyer, Steve Grace, Mark Hodge, Cameron Mitchell, Deon Nuku, Shaun Parker, Troy Phillips, Rodney Syaranamual, Ashley Wallen, Nathan Wright, Susan Black, Nicole Brooks, Danielle Brown, Anastacia Flewin, Fiona Gage, Alex Harrington, Camilla Jakimowicz, Rochelle Jones, Caroline Kaspar, Mandy Liddell, Melanie Mackay, Elise Mann, Charmaine Martin, Michelle Wriggles, Michael Boyd, Lorry D'Ercole, Michael Edge, Glyn Gray, Craig Haines, Stephen Holford, Jamie Jewell, Jason King, Ryan Males, Harlin Martin, Andrew Micallef, Jonathan Schmölzer, Bradley Spargo, Joseph 'Pepe' Ashton, Jordan Ashton, Marcos Falagan, Mitchel Falagan, Chris Mayhew, Hamish McCann, Adrien Janssen, Shaun Holloway, Darren Dowlut, Dennis Dowlut, Pina Conti, Nandy McClean, Maya McClean, Patrick Harding-Irmer, Albin Pahernik, Aurel Verne, Kip Gamblin, Wilson Alcorn, Kerry Casey, Peter Collingwood, Cass Cumerford, Matthew Dale, Brenda De Lacy, Eliana Dona, Nash Edgerton, Coralie Eichholtz, Tim Elliott, Pat Evans, Nicole Fantl, Sandi Finlay, Waldo Garrido, Scott Gregory, Kahlia Greksa, Karinna Greksa, Trent Harlow, Troy Harrison, Geoffrey Kiem, Harold Kissin, Ian Lind, Tony Lynch, Angus Martin, Liliya May, Paul Maybury, Scott Peters, Chris Pickard, Greg Poppleton, Brett Praed, Thern Reynolds, Greg Robinson, David Scotchford, Neeraj Singh, Sotiri Sotiropoulos, David Whitford, Matt Wilson
Genre: Drama, Romance, Music
My Review
I was really disappointed in this movie. I generally like musicals and have enjoyed many of them in the last several years (La La Land, The Greatest Showman and Mama Mia! Here We Go Again, to name a few). In reading the reviews for this film I can see that it definitely has a love-it-or-hate-it feel to it and you can count me in the latter. Roger Ebert described the experience of watching it as “like being trapped in an elevator with the circus”. Inexplicably he thought this was would be a good thing. And therein is the biggest problem that I had with it – at times it was complete sensory overload (especially the first 20 minutes). Is it impressive on some level? Sure, I guess it is if you’re into seeing repeated tight shots of a lot of people dancing. It also tried to add a comedic feel in some of the dancing scenes – again, it was sensory overload. The movie’s best scenes were the ones where there was little production and instead focused on the acting and singing. I get the the film is supposed to be campy but it can’t have it both ways. The cheese and the sensory overload completely took away from the storytelling. I could actually see this being a decent stage musical once the over-the-top production is removed.
I’ve also seen reviews where people said that despite its flaws it is an original idea. I can’t classify a musical that re-interprets someone else’s music as being “original”.
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My Review - 5/10
5/10