A movie you just can't stop thinking about.

Rating: Null/10 (27 May 2001)

Being strictly a romantic comedy fan, Moulin Rouge is not a movie I would normally have gone to see, and I was slightly skeptical at first.

The first 20 minutes to half an hour can only be described in my opinion as STRANGE. Confusing, to say the least, although the tequila hallucination with Kylie Minogue as the Green Fairy was really cute. After the beginning of the movie, the love between Satine (Kidman) and Christian (McGregor) unfolds and it sweeps you along in spellbound musical emotion.
The costumes are fantastic (I loved the scenes at the end where the actual play Spectacular, Spectacular was being performed), the dancing is great, the pitch to squeeze financing out of the Duke in the elephant room was hilarious, and the music was fantastic. Before seeing the film, I had no idea how they could incorporate modern music into a period piece musical, but somehow it actually worked. They used everything from Madonna (with an entire 'Like A Virgin' scene) to Elton John to Nirvana to 'The hills are alive with the sound of music'. I couldn't wait to see what I recognised next.
Having said this, there was also some original music in the film, and the lyrics were just amazing. I didn't even get sick of hearing the two main phrases (people that have seen the movie will know which ones) and the acts that caught me the most were the rooftop scene with Kidman and McGregor singing, and the final play scene with them singing their 'secret song'.

Overall, this is a movie you'll fall in love with. Go with an open mind, sit patiently through the beginning and give it a go. It's a movie you just can't stop thinking about.