Divided Reactions to Moulin Rouge

Rating: 9/10 (31 January 2005)

The ratings posted on IMDb for Moulin Rouge are something of a surprise. People I know loved or hated this film in about equal numbers. And I mean REALLY loved or REALLY hated. If the pattern on IMDb were the same as the one I found among friends, there would have been clusters in the 8-10 and 1-3 range and very little in between. For those looking for guidance, you need to understand that everything about Moulin Rouge is exaggerated. You can go with the flow and enjoy the film (as I did) or you can compare it to more conventional movie musicals and despise it. For those who liked the movie, the lead review on this site has it exactly right. But you can also turn the comments around, view them from the other end, and understand why a lot of people disliked everything about the film for pretty much the same set of reasons. I can't really think of another movie ever that inspired such different reactions based on identical factors.