Moulin Rouge! (2001)

Exclamation Pointless!

If a projector could vomit on a movie screen, the result would be Baz Luhrmann's "Moulin Rouge!" I did not necessarily want to end that first sentence with an exclamation point, but it is part of the movie title. This perplexing punctuation point could be due to one or more of the following:

a) It emphasizes that it should DEFINITELY(!) not be confused with the fine 1952 biopic of Toulouse-Lautrec starring José Ferrer.
b) It is used as a warning, as in "Danger!" or "Hazardous to Health!" or "Bad Movie!"
c) It is just an example of the unnecessary and worthless trappings that someone thought they could throw together and pass off as "art".

Let me see if I can sum up this mess for you:

Take a reel or two of 35mm film. Fill it with gaudy, heavy and bloated direction. Add some stomach-churning performances. Throw in a weird goulash of music. Mix it up with enough chopped up, disjointed editing as to produce vertigo,

and VOILA!

Motion picture motion sickness. Cinematic mal de mer. Projector projectile puke. Technicolor yawn.

The remedy for this malady is to view the aforementioned 1952 film, "Moulin Rouge" (7/10) – without the exclamation point!

Rating: 0/10