Garry McDonald

Seeing this in the theater when it was released, there was a palpable air of 'what the...?'. A raucous, raunchy musical romp through the last year of the century in Paris. If you can get beyond the fact that you'll hear everything from Nirvana to Elton John to Air Supply (gasp!), to Wings in the cleverly constructed soundtrack, then you're fine! The more I've viewed it since that first showing, the more I enjoy it. There's so much kinetic imagery that it's hard to take it all in in one sitting. McGregor and Kidman are great (and sound pretty good too) as doomed lovers, but Broadbent and Roxburgh, as the 'ringleader' of the Moulin Rouge and the 'evil Duke' are hysterical and nearly steal the show (the best number has to be their strange and comedically menacing cover of 'Like a Virgin' by Madonna). Costumes are fantastic and while about 20 minutes could probably have been cut, it still makes for an entertaining time.