Revels in its ridiculousness, and that's not a bad thing

Rating: 7/10 (2 June 2001)

Baz Luhrmann knows he's going to look foolish. So does Nicole Kidman. So does Ewan MacGregor. By the end of the first half hour of this film the entire cast and crew has tried very hard to bring themselves to meet your very definition of the most utter foolishness you can imagine. Then they go past it. So, the question is, are you going to take this film for what it is -- an absurdist satire on cynicism, if you can believe that -- or just think it nothing more than ridiculous? I decided to go with it and had two-thirds of a great time. You know exactly where the plot's going, you know how it's going to end, you know with all the silly archetypes you've been introduced to that it's going to have nothing but either flamboyant or sincere melodrama at the outcast. I laughed hysterically at this film, but I think it knew I was laughing at it. In fact the movie almost dares you to ridicule it, then tops your ridicule with a cherry and does the next most ridiculous thing you can imagine. I admire its audacity. It was laughing back at me. I can handle that. Really the only big drag about the film was the length of the ending and how it probably took itself a little more seriously than it had to at that part, but hell, you knew going in that it was melodramatic, didn't you? Frankly, I admire its nerve. That counts a lot for me. 7/10