Moulin Rouge,
Baz Luhrmann's 2001 musical, certainly has its share of admirers -- it even got nominated for Best Picture -- and some of those even praised the musical collage that represented most of the soundtrack. That patchwork is what the entire enterprise was built on. That was the music and aesthetic that pulsed through the first soundtrack for the movie, not the other, more typical movie music that was featured in the film. That's because that first soundtrack was intended to sell the film as a phenomenon -- something it did quite well with a trashy, all-star cover of "Lady Marmalade." So, this second one is for songs like "The Pitch (Spectacular Spectacular)," "Come What May," and "Like a Virgin," plus some instrumentals -- music that played a big part within the film. Though this still has some of those covers that misunderstood both rock and movie musicals -- such as
Jim Broadbent's swaggering "Like a Virgin" -- on the whole, this is a better soundtrack because it delivers music that was actually in the movie. ~ Stephen Thomas Erlewine