Ummmmm....no

Rating: Null/10 (14 March 2002)

I agree with others who referred to this movie as a "wasted opportunity." The cinematography was beautiful and the idea original, but it was WAY too long and WAY too flawed to keep my interest.
The concept is unique; I enjoyed how some of the contemporary songs came to life as lines in the movie, but thought the concept was horribly overdone. I could smell "Like a Virgin" a mile away, and would've turned the movie off altogether if I hadn't invested so much time already. They obviously had talented writers working for this movie. Why not create more original, appropriate, unobnoxious pieces instead? The budget was so lavish and the costumes so beautiful....I just felt like the writing fell short.
I also feel that the love story was extremely overrated. I had heard this was one of the best love stories of all time....the kind of love that everyone looks for. Without giving the story away, I just can't agree with this whatsoever. The two lovers barely know each other. Their relationship is totally superficial, and is plagued with self-superiority, jealousy, and misunderstanding. I got the impression that if the drama was put aside, this couple would last about two weeks. It brought me back to high school all over again.
But perhaps the biggest flaw, in my opinion, was Ewan McGregor's singing. Dear God, I teach elementary music and my first graders sing better then he does. My knowledge of vocal music is fairly limited...I am by no means a singing snob... but it was extremely obvious that the poor guy has never had a voice lesson in his life. The low notes were fine...but as soon as he started reaching for those high ones every note was SO piercing and so awful. He didn't do anything with them....just belted them out at the top of his lungs and held them there for excruciating periods of time. It was honestly some of the worst on-key singing I have ever heard in my life.
There were a few times that I really enjoyed the way the movie seemed to be going. I was never very actively involved in the "love story," but John Leguizamo is hilarious and there were some dramatic climaxes that had my attention. Unfortunately, these all ended in disappointing ways.

Ultimately, I enjoyed the fresh concept, brilliant colors, and eccentric use of songs in this movie. Other then that, I was thoroughly disappointed.