Truth! Beauty! Freedom! And above all, Love!
In the Monmartre district of Paris, in the last years of the 19th Century, the poet Christian (Ewan) falls in love with the star of the Moulin Rouge, Satine (Nicole). But with Satine promised to a duke and hiding a deadly illness, can their love survive?
There are a couple of people who completely hate Baz Luhrman's films. Too flashy, too fast, all style, no content. To them I say, bugger off. Let the rest of us enjoy the lush musical extravaganza. And, despite denials from the production team, this is definitely a musical, albeit one with, I think, about one and a half original songs (there's a duet for Ewan and Nicole that is probably new, plus a new set of lyrics for the can-can). The rest of the score manages to jump from "Like a Virgin" to "Smells Like Teen Spirit" to "Diamonds are a Girl's Best Friend" without skipping a beat, and even occasionally using the songs to forward the plot.
Ewan and Nicole manage to look suitably pretty and in rapturous love (Ewan in particular looks happier than he has on screen for ages), and the supporting cast manage to grab their moments in the spotlight with open arms (watch out for David Wenham as a neurotic composer in drag in the opening few scenes). Come, see, enjoy.

Joey Grasso (Coco) thinks that "there's no such thing as failure", that "acceptance is unacceptable", that one should "hold on to that dream" and be willing to "walk the talk". After a while you just want to punch him. With some justification: this is the story of how he manipulates his girlfriend into handing over her disability payout, so that he can manage the career of Gold Coast club singer Nikki Raye (Bennett), a woman as untalented as she is blonde. But then, he has such big, dark, insane, puppydog eyes; and in some sense some obscure sense, please don't ask me to explain what it is he means well. Whether you like this film depends on whether you pass the Joey Grasso test. If you thoroughly loathe him, you'll probably loathe the film as well (and many people did). On the other hand, if you find him just the least little bit endearing, or even fascinating, you'll probably get over what a jerk he is and start finding the other characters endearing and fascinating, too. You may even find yourself in agreement with those who thought that Walk the Talk was the best Australian film of 2000.