bizarre movie

Rating: 3/10 (22 December 2001)

Moulin Rouge could have been best movie musical since the heydays of MGM, with it's unparralled sets, incredible theatrical style lighting, and last but not least it's massive musical and dance numbers, but sadly it falls short because all these things come crashing down as it becomes a parody of itself over and over throughout the film.
Including contemporary music, costuming and locations, yet reatining the classic story and dialog realy worked for Baz Luhrmann in his version of "Romeo + Juliet". These things drove the story and made it more accessible to a younger audience.
Moulin Rouge! didn't need this, the story stood on it's own and didn't need gimics to draw audiences in. The ridiculous overuse of contemporary music turned what could be a classic into Vaudville. Once it's clever, twice it's tollerable, but relying on this "joke" throughout the entire movie ruins it's entertainment value. One minute it's story and character development is drawing you in, the next minute a kareoke version of "Roxanne" is being belted out.