I really wanted to like Australia, but after watching almost three hours of film I still came out feeling shortchanged. Baz Luhrmann did include visual elements from Romeo + Juliet and Moulin Rouge which vivified the landscape of his home country (at least for the first part of the movie), but the wonderful visuals soon became eclipsed by the cheesy storytelling.

Australia was filled with too many genres: history, drama, romance, comedy (mostly at the beginning), and even fantasy. Perhaps this was done to show the many sides of Australia itself, but one just ends up feeling lost in the shuffle. The romance between Hugh Jackman’s and Nicole Kidman’s characters felt all too contrived and, while Jackman was damn hot in the movie, Kidman’s face looked like it had been botoxed one too many times. I just didn’t feel the chemistry, not enough to care for the big kiss moment, anyway.

I heard the ending was modified from Luhrmann’s original script, which audiences felt was “too sad.” And I agree with the change, because after sitting through three hours of cliché dialogue and an awkwardly put-together plot, things better end well.