Weird, Confusing...boring

Rating: Null/10 (26 May 2002)

Velvet Goldmine sounds brilliant on paper, but in action it's an overlong, mashed pulp of glitter, bad hair and dodgy camera work. What the hell was it about? Maybe it's cause I'm young and don't appreciate the era or something, but the concert and music video scenes dragged on for far too long. The storyline jumped from one part to another, and then back again so you didn't know what was going on. This kind of arty filming works in some cases, but not in this one. Although I did like some of the music, it just got too much for me in the end. The acting, on the other hand, was very well done. Ewan McGregor gave a great performance (I almost believed he was a glam rock star), Jonathon Rhys Meyers was perfectly cast as the David Bowie lookalike, and Christian Bale gave an outstanding portrayal (as usual) of the lonely, confused Arthur Stuart. Apart from the acting, everything else was rubbish. I generally like movies, and I definately thought I'd like this considering Christian Bale was in it, but even he couldn't save it. You'd have to of lived in the seventies to like this movie, or have a serious passion for platform shoes, glitter and sparkly lycra.