Great Eye Candy, Fair Movie

Rating: 6/10 (9 June 2001)

Moulin Rouge is a frustrating movie for me. There is so much there that is very good to excellent, but it is dragged down by a script that fails in all the wrong places.
This movie is a treat for the eyes. The sets are vibrant and original, bursting with light and energy. The camera flies over them like an acrobat on his/her eighth espresso; jumping, spinning, and dancing to capture the frantic action. The use of lighting, not just to illuminate, but to define structures and action is wonderful. This movie is indeed set in a fairyland, albeit a corrupt one.
The costumes are totally over the top. Whoever designed and made them must have had a wonderful time. They are a near perfect expression of the sophisticated and decadent world portrayed here, the 19th century equivalent of disco.
Led by Jim Broadbent as Harold Zidler, owner of the Moulin Rouge, and John Leguizamo as Toulouse Lautrec, the cast turn in performances that are at the very least good. Broadbent holds this movie together as the satyr-like Zidler, a man for whom no pleasure is to be denied. Leguizamo takes his Lautrec to the edge of zaniness while keeping him border line believable. Nicole Kidman shines as Satine. She goes from hardened prostitute to lover, capturing at least my heart along the way. Ewan McGregor delivers a wonderful tragic performance as the man who's love transforms Satine.

Unfortunately, all of this is fatally compromised by a script that is indecisive at all the wrong times. It doesn't know if it wants to be a comedy, a love story, or a tragedy. The result are scenes that inject laughs at all the wrong times, drop tear jerking moments into the action without motivation, and generally ruin what could have been a transcendent movie experience. The use of existing songs is handled poorly, all to often taking lines from several songs to create a muddled and confusing whole. While there are exceptions to this (especially the Police's "Roxanne"), this is the general rule. I was also surprised to discover that cast members did their own singing, the lip synching was terrible.
All of this is really too bad, because Moulin Rouge had the potential to be one of the great movie musicals of all time. But it just doesn't make the grade.