REEL CRITICS

The up and downs of ‘Moulin Rouge’

Gay: All I can say is “You ain’t seen nothing yet!” If “Moulin Rouge”

doesn’t revive the Hollywood musical, nothing ever will. From the onset,

director/writer Baz Luhrmann didn’t hold back any of his creative juices.

The unbound music, pulsating colors, untamed characters and fever pitch

stagger the mind in this lyrically feral love story.

You’ll cancan and sing your way through gay Paris with a mix of

psychedelic aura like no other, from full-blown scenery minutiae to

fast-moving legs and people luring you into the infamous nightclub.

In 1899, wide-eyed Christian (Ewan McGregor) arrives in outrageous

Paris just in time to help a group of artists write a new play for the

tawdry world of the Moulin Rouge. Christian meets a courtesan -- a polite

word for prostitute -- Satine, “The Sparkling Diamond” (Nicole Kidman).

It’s love at first sight.

Kidman’s voice is like an angel. When she sings, it’s hard to keep

your eyes off her stunning presence.

Enter the vile Duke (Richard Roxburgh), who is in love with Satine and

bankrolls the new play in exchange for her exclusive favor. The love

triangle is played out and the fever pitch of the film slows down when

Satine chooses between her love for Christian and love for fame -- a

tragic ending!

Bill: Stop the roller-coaster ride from hell, please. I expected the

Bohemian love story of an innocent young writer with a “Guys and Dolls”

musical vision. What I got was a hyperactive “Hit Parade” blaring gaudy

rock snippets of 20th century music.

And when the three stooges or snoop sisters whose voyeurism proved to

be so annoying behind a screen, above a scaffolding . . . OK, I knew it

was in the red-light district and we were going to be surrounded by women

selling their bodies, but enough of the Elvis pelvis in your face for one

show!

Hey, you don’t have to abandon all of the rules to make a great movie.

Creative -- maybe. Ingenious -- not!

I needed a tranquilizer watching Gay bob back and forth in her seat

and lip sync to all of the music. One compromise: Kidman and McGregor did

surprise me with their gifted voices. But are you sure it wasn’t Milli

Vanilli?

Gay says: Go with the dolls. I’ve seen it twice and will go again.

Bill says: This one is not for the guys.

o7 ‘Moulin Rouge” is rated PG-13 for sexual content.

f7 * GAY WASSALL-KELLY, 61, is the editor of a Balboa newspaper and

is active in the community. BILL KELLY, 59, is an industrial engineer.

The ‘Evolution’ of ‘Ghostbusters’

“Evolution,” a new film directed and produced by Ivan Reitman, asks

the audience to determine if the gags from Reitman’s early comedic hit

“Ghostbusters” can evolve and be used again almost 20 years later.

The film begins with a meteor crashing into the Arizona desert that

sets in motion an alien invasion. Orlando Jones, well known for his

hilarious 7Up commercials, and David Duchovny, best known as FBI Agent

Fox Mulder on the television series “The X-Files,” are community college

science professors who are less-than-motivated pedagogues. In fact, their

preoccupation with pretty coeds and silly side-projects seems oddly

familiar. Could it be that their characters are rip-offs of the wacky

scientist/professors played by Bill Murphy, Dan Akroyd and Harold Ramis

in “Ghostbusters?” Nah.

As the aliens multiply, grow and become more ferocious, Jones (as

Harry Block) and Duchovny (as Ira Kane) are joined by Seann William

Scott, who again reprises his typecast role as a moron, this time named

Wayne Green. And while Scott has played the same part many times before

in such movies as “Dude Where’s My Car?” and “American Pie,” he still

makes us wish that we hadn’t opted for the “best value” soda at the

refreshments counter because any time that he appears on screen may be

the last moment that we enjoy wearing dry pants.

Julianne Moore, known for more serious fare such as “End of the

Affair,” plays no-nonsense military scientist Allison Reed, sent to stop

the alien onslaught. Reed is at first an ice queen who tries to stave off

the romantic advances made by Kane. She later realizes that he is not a

complete loser and his silly charms win her heart, even while all heck is

breaking loose around them. Gee, didn’t Sigourney Weaver play a role kind

of like that once? What was the name of that movie? Oh yeah, it was

“Ghostbusters”!

The similarities between “Evolution” and “Ghostbusters” continue to

the very last scene, in which instead of everyone being doused in

marshmallow, everyone is drenched in Head and Shoulders shampoo. (Don’t

ask why in either case.)

Dan Akroyd even makes a brief appearance portraying the governor of

Arizona, as if to tip his hat to the new generation of actors re-making

his comedic masterpiece.

Even though I knew that I had seen this formula before, I have to

admit that I laughed throughout the entire film. And so did most of the

audience around me, many of whom are probably too young to remember such

lines as “Who ya gonna call?” and “I got slimed!” So unless you hate

plagiarism more than my ninth-grade English teacher, you should find

yourself laughing rather than scowling at this blatant rip-off of a

classic comedy.

o7 “Evolution” is rated PG-13 for crude and sexual humor, and for

sci-fi action.

f7 * RYAN GILMORE, 27, is a Costa Mesa resident.