Sadly, I had high hopes for this one

Rating: Null/10 (6 June 2001)

I had been anxiously awaiting the opening of Moulin Rouge ever since seeing a full-color spread of the movie months ago in Vanity Fair. I should probably preface this by saying that I'm a real fan of the great Hollywood musicals, so my expectations were really high. After seeing the movie, I can't decide if I was disappointed, insulted or just plain exhausted.
The film's frantic pace left me feeling drained. With all the money spent on lavish sets and costumes, it would have been nice for Baz Luhrman to let us actually see and enjoy some of the images, instead of hurling us into the middle of the action and then pulling us out again at break-neck speed. It had a schizophrenic plot that teetered between goofiness (come on, a singing moon???) and tragedy. Is it a farce, or is the film taking itself seriously?

I think I could have gotten past the use of modern songs in a turn-of-the-century setting if they hadn't been used in such a hokey way. For example, Toulouse-Latrec and his cronies kept showing up to chime in during certain songs, reminding me of the chimpmunks who sang "Blue Moon" in "Babe." And why were they climbing up the roof of Satine's ridiculous boudoir that was housed inside a giant elephant???
I do have to give credit to Nicole Kidman and Ewan McGregor for putting in excellent performances and surprisingly good singing. But their presence was overshadowed by Luhrman's nightmarish eye candy. If he had gone for more substance and less razzle dazzle, he would have made a wonderful movie. Instead, I don't know what the heck it was, but I think one movie critic described it best -- "An assault on the senses."