Review – Moulin Rouge

Inasmuch as I’ve never had much of a fondness for either Busby Berkley movies or for crack, it should come as no surprise that I didn’t get much out of this 21st-century parade of the former under the influence of the latter. Nicole Kidman and Ewan McGregor star (and John Leguizamo squeaks around the set as Toulouse Lautrec) in this odd blend of traditional musical, simple boy-meets-girl-boy-loses-girl-boy-sorta-gets-girl tale and MTV-style music video. When the production seems to be having fun free-basing jump-cuts, fin de siecle decadence and lyrics from inane pop songs, it’s actually a surprisingly amusing experience. Unfortunately toward the end the movie appears to want to be taken seriously, something it might have worked harder to merit. So once again the axiom is demonstrated: the line between irony and stupidity is all too fine. Mildly amusing