Pretentiousness is often confused for greatness.

Rating: 5/10 (3 June 2001)

I will admit Moulin Rouge is visually stunning, but beyond yet it can't decide whether it wants to be a comedy, musical or melodrama. The first half of the movie is filmed at a frenetic pace. The style is a cross between Tim Burton and Spike Jonze on speed. It had all the drama of an hour-long music video (the Smashing Pumpkins did it better). The characters are cartoonish and too slapstick. The second half of the movie plays better, but it left me wondering why the whole movie wasn't treated as a serious love story. The usually entertaining John Leguizamo's Toulouse Lautrec is Three Stooges in its depth.
Moulin Rouge is better suited for the Broadway stage, then for the movie screen. Ewan McGregor does hold his own, unlike Antonio Banderas in Evita (or who could forget Oliver Reed in Tommy) and Nicole Kidman is absolutely beautiful. Even these great performances can't rescue Moulin Rouge. Too often avant-garde is synonymous with greatness. The audience I saw this movie with was bored.