The movie Moulin Rouge: A hot mess or a little bit of brilliance?

Some people REALLY love this movie. But I just didn’t get the “brilliance” behind it.

i truly love the music. It is “out there”. Musicals do have a bit of cheese and shallow bits.
I think it probably depicts the era pretty well, which I have little knowledge about.
The TB, the addiction.

It’s not as strange as “Tommy.”

One of the few movies I’ve ever left a movie theater for before it ended. I know what you mean about the eye rolling cheesiness but it was also a bore to me. It ties with Eyes Wide Shut and not anything to do with Nicole Kidman, I usually think she’s bearable in movies.

I thought it was visually stunning but a weak movie on pretty much every other count.

I’ll go with “hot mess” and one thumb definitely down.

I didn’t like it the first time I saw it, but since (and somehow) acquired the soundtrack, parts of which are oddly very moving for me. I’m I’ve seen it since. Overall, I think of it favorably now, but I believe it is mostly an acquired taste. So @tinyfaery, I think I’m mostly with you in your assessment.

It kind of makes me think of Magnolia, which blew me away the first time I saw it, and now I simply like a lot with the exception of the singing at the end, which is rather jarring and cheesy.

I think the visual and the audio were very moving. The story was tragic and showed the stupid side of decision making. I have a couple of acquaintances that made just such bad decisions! Their lives are stupidly tragic but real. So for me the visual and the audio “made” me feel the passion of the story. All things that make it a super movie.

I think it’s totally bizarre and surreal, and I have to be in the right (weird) sort of mood to enjoy it. But when I am in the right mood I LOVE it.

I really enjoyed how creative the director got with the song covers. I think the silliness gave the film an original side which eventually led to it being nominated for so many awards and winning a lot of them.

@kevbo, I agree with you about Magnolia. I didn’t know how to react when they started singing; however, one of my friends simply gave his opinion that the director might have done it to relieve the audience from so much drama. I personally think the flying frogs had enough comic “relief,” and that the singing was a bit too much.

It’s not the type of thing i’d watch at all, ever. I saw a few minutes of it and that was more than enough.

visually brilliant… not my type of movie but for some reason i loveee it… i’m just a fan of Baz Lurhmann’s work though

At the start of the movie, you see John Ugly-short-guy (Lazgammo?) singing a few lines from Nat King Cole’s Nature Boy. That immediately got me, and I enjoyed most of the movie (though the Nichole Kidman seduction scene was enough for me to consider pulling my eyes out of their sockets).
So it’s both a hot mess, and quite brilliant.

The latter, imho.

Oh, I don’t know. When I saw it, it was merely to feast my eyes on Ewan McGregor. ::le sigh!::

I couldn’t even give you the plot of the thing.

Funny—after I saw it, I was so hopped up on the music and visuals that I bought the DVD, thinking I would study it more closely. That was like almost 10 years ago (can you believe that) and I’ve never been interested enough to break the seal on the box.

I love this movie. I love everything about it. The music. The romance. The seduction scene always make me giggle and then Ewan McGregor starts to sing Your Song, it’s wonderful. However I do have to say my one of may favorite scenes has to be this one. Really it is a beautifully brilliant movie.

Hot mess but then, I am comparing it to the many, many musicals (stage and screen) I have seen and marvelled at the talent. I certainly don’t think that Nicole Kidman is a talented singer and that put me off the whole film. Maybe with another actress that has a stronger singing voice (not Renee Zellweger!!!) I could appreciate it a bit more but, even then, I find the music quite uninspiring as well.