The Most Overrated Film of the Decade

Rating: 3/10 (31 May 2004)

Baz Luhrman's frenetic "Moulin Rouge!" is one of those films that people either love or hate. I have to go with the latter. This is the epitome of a generation of MTV-style filmmaking: the movie is little more than one long, exhausting music video. There is very little substance amongst all the stylistic excess. The characters are all cartoonish stereotypes and the plot is formulaic. The comedic aspects of the film are very broad and not very funny. I found John Leguizamo's portrayal of diminutive painter Toulouse Latrec particularly annoying. The film's message is basically about the power of love (or "wuv", as half the characters in the movie seem to pronounce it), but the love portrayed here is shallow.
There is no subtlety or pacing in this film. Everything is done to the extreme. "Moulin Rouge!" could be diagnosed with Attention Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder. I became annoyed with the unnecessary camera movements and fast-paced editing. During one scene, I counted 45 cuts within one minute of screentime! Meanwhile, the soundtrack is a bizarre medley of modern pop/rock hits and songs from old movie musicals. This concept is novel, but the novelty soon wears off. While I must give a tip of the hat to any film that tries something different in this age of cinematic mediocrity, watching "Moulin Rouge!" is equivalent to eating cotton candy: it's colourful and gives you a quick buzz, but you soon get sick of it.
Rating: ** out of ****