Not Meant for the Big Screen

Rating: Null/10 (3 July 2002)

As an absinthe drinker I felt I owed it to myself to see this movie. Fittingly this movie left me was as bad an aftertaste as the aforementioned drink.
The biggest problem I had with this movie was that it was meant for the Theatre and not for the big screen. For starters the acting is way to overdone which works on stage, but comes off as contrived on the silver screen. As a film the actors look as if they're showboating their talent as to who went to the better drama school, complete with unnecessary giddiness, extremely exaggerated hand and facial gestures as well as overdoing the lines.
Also the play-within-a-play would work wonderfully on a theatre stage, especially at the points when the actors come into the audience. However it just was not fun to watch actors playing characters themselves who are overacting, who then overact more because the characters themselves are actors within the movie.
I also found it hard to accept the characters and the time period when every five seconds I was bombarded with recent pop music. History never asked for nor gains anything by being "remixed". History: A Remix would be a good alternate title for Moulin Rouge. Again on stage I think this could be pulled off as characters breaking into popular songs of our era would seem both spontaneous and nontraditional, a break for the boring humdrum majority of staged theatre that exists. However from the get go of the movie it set the wheels of doubt in my head in motion.
My final thoughts on why this should be staged and not filmed. Lack of locations. In the entire movie there are only 3 locations: The Moulin Rouge, The Bohemians' apartment, and the Duke's Tower. It would be a snap for a stage crew to set these up (much like they did in the film), however I'm watching a Hollywood production I expect glitz, glamour, dazzle.
Even Nicole Kidman appearing on screen in lingerie for 3/4 of this movie wasn't enough to save this film. 1/9 stars