# Am I The Only Person In The World Who Hated Moulin Rouge? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [May 13, 2002, 8:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/am-i-the-only-person-in-the-world-who-hated-moulin-rouge/108775 "2002-05-13T08:27:19Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![LolaBaby](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/d2c977/32.png) [@LolaBaby](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LolaBaby)\ **Post date:** [May 13, 2002, 8:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/am-i-the-only-person-in-the-world-who-hated-moulin-rouge/108775/1 "2002-05-13T08:27:19Z")
What a frickin’ waste of time (mine) and talent (the actors). It had to be the most annoying movie I have ever seen in my life. ---
**Author:** ![jjimm](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/ba8739/32.png) [@jjimm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jjimm)\ **Post date:** [May 13, 2002, 8:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/am-i-the-only-person-in-the-world-who-hated-moulin-rouge/108775/2 "2002-05-13T08:29:49Z")
I didn’t hate it, but I didn’t think it was all that either. I enjoyed the opening scenes, but I thought the narrative was slow and pointless, and lost interest for the last 3/4 of the movie. That’s all. ---
**Author:** ![Ashtar](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/9fc29f/32.png) [@Ashtar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ashtar)\ **Post date:** [May 13, 2002, 8:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/am-i-the-only-person-in-the-world-who-hated-moulin-rouge/108775/3 "2002-05-13T08:29:49Z")
In regard to subject line: Yes. Everybody liked it but you. Now you’ve ruined it for everyone. I hope you’re happy. [sub] How can anyone -hate- Moulin Rouge? That is a blasphemy! [/sub] ---
**Author:** ![Typo\_Negative](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/typo_negative/32/484_2.png) [@Typo\_Negative](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Typo_Negative)\ **Post date:** [May 13, 2002, 9:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/am-i-the-only-person-in-the-world-who-hated-moulin-rouge/108775/4 "2002-05-13T09:11:31Z")
You are not alone. I walked out on this unoriginal 2 hour MTV video about 45 minutes into it. ---
**Author:** ![LolaBaby](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/d2c977/32.png) [@LolaBaby](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LolaBaby)\ **Post date:** [May 13, 2002, 9:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/am-i-the-only-person-in-the-world-who-hated-moulin-rouge/108775/5 "2002-05-13T09:19:01Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Ashtar \* > \*\*In regard to subject line: > > Yes. Everybody liked it but you. Now you’ve ruined it for everyone. I hope you’re happy. > > [sub] How can anyone -hate- Moulin Rouge? That is a blasphemy! [/sub] \*\* \*goes to stand with **jjimm** and **spooje** I’m happy now! 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Space\_Vampire](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/e0b2c6/32.png) [@Space\_Vampire](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Space_Vampire)\ **Post date:** [May 13, 2002, 9:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/am-i-the-only-person-in-the-world-who-hated-moulin-rouge/108775/6 "2002-05-13T09:22:32Z")
Definitely not. But it might look that way since most people who would hate it can tell without watching it. ---
**Author:** ![Odesio](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/odesio/32/20003_2.png) [@Odesio](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Odesio)\ **Post date:** [May 13, 2002, 9:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/am-i-the-only-person-in-the-world-who-hated-moulin-rouge/108775/7 "2002-05-13T09:38:29Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by LolaBaby \* > \*\*What a frickin’ waste of time (mine) and talent (the actors). It had to be the most annoying movie I have ever seen in my life. \*\* I didn’t think it was a very good musical. Mainly because I really didn’t like that many of the musical numbers. Marc ---
**Author:** ![jjimm](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/ba8739/32.png) [@jjimm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jjimm)\ **Post date:** [May 13, 2002, 9:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/am-i-the-only-person-in-the-world-who-hated-moulin-rouge/108775/8 "2002-05-13T09:59:08Z")
Oh, and **Mrs jjimm** concurs with me. ---
**Author:** ![Michael\_Ellis](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/977dab/32.png) [@Michael\_Ellis](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Michael_Ellis)\ **Post date:** [May 13, 2002, 10:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/am-i-the-only-person-in-the-world-who-hated-moulin-rouge/108775/9 "2002-05-13T10:37:28Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by LolaBaby \* > \*\* > > \*goes to stand with **jjimm** and **spooje** > > I’m happy now! 😃 \*\* I’ll happily join you. Moulin Rouge sucked. And I don’t understand anyone’s attraction to Nicole Kidman, she looks like an animate statue. ---
**Author:** ![Cazzle](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cazzle/32/75_2.png) [@Cazzle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cazzle)\ **Post date:** [May 13, 2002, 10:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/am-i-the-only-person-in-the-world-who-hated-moulin-rouge/108775/10 "2002-05-13T10:40:25Z")
You’re not the only weird who didn’t like it. There were quite a few, I understand. Ok, I’m just kidding. I personally love the movie, but can understand that some people don’t like it. In fact, I’ve noticed some people hate it for the same reasons that I love it. ---
**Author:** ![singular1](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ba9def/32.png) [@singular1](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/singular1)\ **Post date:** [May 13, 2002, 10:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/am-i-the-only-person-in-the-world-who-hated-moulin-rouge/108775/11 "2002-05-13T10:52:40Z")
There are not enough variations on the word “suck” to adequately describe this miserable gas bubble. ---
**Author:** ![Ell](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/e47774/32.png) [@Ell](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ell)\ **Post date:** [May 13, 2002, 11:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/am-i-the-only-person-in-the-world-who-hated-moulin-rouge/108775/12 "2002-05-13T11:06:10Z")
I didn’t like it and to make matters worse my sister bought in on DVD today. ---
**Author:** ![Ell](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/e47774/32.png) [@Ell](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ell)\ **Post date:** [May 13, 2002, 11:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/am-i-the-only-person-in-the-world-who-hated-moulin-rouge/108775/13 "2002-05-13T11:07:54Z")
And she’s put all the music on my winamp playlist! :mad: ---
**Author:** ![MovieMogul](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/f08c70/32.png) [@MovieMogul](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MovieMogul)\ **Post date:** [May 13, 2002, 12:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/am-i-the-only-person-in-the-world-who-hated-moulin-rouge/108775/14 "2002-05-13T12:38:07Z")
It’s interesting that people who loved it will say things like “Well, I guess you don’t love musicals” or “You have to immerse yourself in the romanticism” or some such hogwash to dismiss the opinions of people who think the film was, in many ways, unbearable. Well, I love musicals and the unapologetic romantic streak that movies often have, and thought the movie was b-a-d. The acting was leaden (with the exception of Broadbent and the exception Ewan), the musical numbers are clumsy and over-edited to within an inch of their lives, and the dialogue is the summation of every banal, cliche-ridden love story we’ve already seen a thousand times. The costumes aren’t bad, though. Do you want to see a really, really good movie about life at the Moulin Rouge? Hunt down Jean Renoir’s masterpiece _ **French Can-can** _. It has truer things to say about the relationship between art and love, it is passionate and sexual where the Luhrmann is tediously chaste, and the musical numbers are magnificent–dynamic, exuberant, and, oh yes: you can actually _see_ the dancing, without having them all filtered through a cusinart. ---
**Author:** ![MovieMogul](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/f08c70/32.png) [@MovieMogul](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MovieMogul)\ **Post date:** [May 13, 2002, 12:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/am-i-the-only-person-in-the-world-who-hated-moulin-rouge/108775/15 "2002-05-13T12:40:25Z")
Whoops, sorry about the coding. I’m typing this in the dark… ---
**Author:** ![Chekmate](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/46a35a/32.png) [@Chekmate](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chekmate)\ **Post date:** [May 13, 2002, 2:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/am-i-the-only-person-in-the-world-who-hated-moulin-rouge/108775/16 "2002-05-13T14:53:10Z")
My girlfriend made me watch it, and I was just happy that it didn’t _suck._ ---
**Author:** ![easy\_e](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/eb8c5e/32.png) [@easy\_e](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/easy_e)\ **Post date:** [May 13, 2002, 3:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/am-i-the-only-person-in-the-world-who-hated-moulin-rouge/108775/17 "2002-05-13T15:35:21Z")
I thought it was way over-rated. I have a thing against smaltzy pop songs, which cut out vast amounts of the soundtrack. I like musicals, but I like to be able to figure out the choreography (read: I didn’t like the rapid-fire editing). The story was typically drippy, and neither of the leads had great singing voices. The costumes were cool, though. ---
**Author:** ![Skywatcher](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/skywatcher/32/254_2.png) [@Skywatcher](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Skywatcher)\ **Post date:** [May 13, 2002, 4:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/am-i-the-only-person-in-the-world-who-hated-moulin-rouge/108775/18 "2002-05-13T16:37:43Z")
I neither hated it nor loved it. There were some great moments, such as the Spectacular Spectacular number and the Pythonish humor (e.g.: the handgun bouncing off the Eiffel Tower). ---
**Author:** ![annieclaus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/b5a626/32.png) [@annieclaus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/annieclaus)\ **Post date:** [May 13, 2002, 5:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/am-i-the-only-person-in-the-world-who-hated-moulin-rouge/108775/19 "2002-05-13T17:09:54Z")
I absolutely adored the ROXANNE tango. The rest of it was a waste of time. And I like Baz Luhrman’s work. There was just way too much of everything else. It gave me a headache. I also did not buy Nicole/Satine’s case of tuberculosis. I thought TB made one very, very weak and then progressively wasted the person away. N/S looked fab, if overdone, did an occasional miniscule kaff-kaff into her hanky. . . and then dropped dead onstage. ---
**Author:** ![Charlie\_Tan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/charlie_tan/32/12582_2.png) [@Charlie\_Tan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Charlie_Tan)\ **Post date:** [May 13, 2002, 5:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/am-i-the-only-person-in-the-world-who-hated-moulin-rouge/108775/20 "2002-05-13T17:31:16Z")
I loved it. Seen it three times so far (once in theatre, twice rented). Going to buy the DVD. That said, I can also understand that some people hated it. It _is_ very contrived, overacted, feverish, psychedelic, dreamlike… And IM - not so - HO, that’s the very point. My take on the film is that it’s a mirror on how silly and self-centered we get, when we fall in love. How we dote on the partner, invent nicknames for each other, and are - in general - being totally obnoxious to all people around us. * * * A side issue: In Stockholm, the movie was playing at “Röda Kvarn” (lit- Red Mill), a turn of the century theatre, with lots of gold painted panels and columns, and red velvet. It certainly hightened the experience. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/am-i-the-only-person-in-the-world-who-hated-moulin-rouge/108775.md?page=2)