Entertain us!

Rating: 5/10 (12 June 2001)

One scene in this movie sums up the entire experience of "Moulin Rouge": The gleeful throng gathered at the Moulin Rouge/nightclub dances frenetically to a techno beat and breaks out into a chorus from Nirvana's "Smells Like Teen Spirit", "Here we are now/Entertain us." Kurt Cobain had something like this in mind when he wrote that song. Today's audiences would flock to see any piece of crap that is promoted. Not only that, they will eat it up and call it ice cream.
I'm not sure if Baz Luhrman made this movie deliberately to raise this rather intriguing issue or if this is simply the worst movie ever made. At times it feels as if he's poking fun at the indulgent, extravagant excess that is today's pop culture or if he is a part of it. Maybe it's both. I found this ambiguity interesting and watched the entire movie, even though half the audience walked out during the first twenty minutes. If anything, the positive comments on this board prove that people today will put up with anything to be entertained. See this movie and judge for yourself.