In other words, there needs to be something controversial, something that might make your mother uncomfortable, something that feels spontaneous, as though it's producing the culture rather than responding to it. There's nothing controversial about either Kidman or Jackman. I don't mean they need to behave badly and get negative press. I mean they need to have a few strong thoughts in their heads, thoughts that can be disagreed with or passionately defended, and they need to bring these thoughts into their work. Yes it makes you vulnerable and liable to mess up pretty badly if you aren't careful. Protecting against mess-ups results in blandness.

And blandness - or rather the perception of it, which is far more damaging - is what is killing this movie. Baz Luhrmann wrote a love letter to a country? Ok, I read love letters on blogs every day. They bore me unless I intimately know the parties involved. So either cast people who are fearless enough to be intimate with the public at large or else find a way to make your story bump it with a trumpet.

It's not about being "deep" or even about being good. It's about being entertaining. Passion, although wildly attractive, is not actually entertaining all on its own. Sad for Luhrmann and his investors. But dude, if you want to be applauded for your passion, write a poem. If you want to make a movie that people will go see, stop worrying about applause and start worrying about interest. The stripper in the flashing pasties probably doesn't have the best tits and her customers probably spend a lot of time talking about that, but she's also probably the only stripper who got noticed by every last pair of eyes in the joint. You can't please 'em all, but being pleased is only one small part of being entertained.

Yes I just wrote all of that about a Hollywood flop. If I was on vacation, that's all I'd do, all day.

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Yes. I'm a "long-stayer". Deal with it.

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