Rating of
3/4
Commendable
Franz Patrick - wrote on 09/20/08
I thought this film was way overrated when it came out because everyone I knew seemed to have loved it. After five years, I rewatched it again and I still think it’s overrated although not as much as before. Sure, I commend this picture for having a great cinematography and wonderful clothing, but story-wise, it’s nothing ground-breaking. It’s pretty much your boy-falls-in-love-with-girl-but-they-can’t-be-together-because-another-boy-is-interested-in-the-girl story but set in a musical. But what makes this film above average is Nicole Kidman and Ewan McGregor. Nicole Kidman is elegant in every scene she’s in without sacrificing her signature ice queen personality. Ewan McGregor has this boyish charm that one cannot help but love. When you put them together in one scene, they summon a little bit of Leonardi DiCaprio and Kate Winslet in “Titanic.” I also really liked the way they fused songs from pop culture to its original material… and then having to fuse those into the storyline. Surprisingly, all of it worked for me. The weakness of this film is the beginning: there were too many cuts from one character to another to the point where it made me dizzy and want to look away from the screen. Otherwise, when it finally found its footing twenty minutes into the picture, it was pretty good… but it couldn’t quite attain greatness.
