Director Baz Luhrmann promised filmgoers a "banquet" of romance, action, drama and comedy in his new epic Australia, but it has left many United States critics gagging.
Some critics were disturbed by Australia's "near-racism" and at least one questioned Nicole Kidman's "immovable forehead".
The Chicago-Tribune's critic told his readers "the film appears on the verge of morphing into a singing-cowboy musical" while The San Francisco Chronicle slammed what it called "bad acting".
The headline on The Miami-Herald's review was: "Awfully Big, Kinda Empty".
One shining light was The New York Times with a review praising the performances of Kidman and Hugh Jackman and Luhrmann's "cinematic spectacle".
The largely negative reviews are not the launching pad Luhrmann and Hollywood studio backing the $US130 million ($NZ244 million) film, Twentieth Century Fox, hoped for on the eve of the movie's debut in 2600 US theatres.
The reviews also follow Kidman's awkward appearance on comedian David Letterman's leading US TV talk show which featured many long pauses and scathing attacks on the actress by Internet gossip blogger Perez Hilton and Times of London columnist Melanie Reid.
"Do you know this is not rehearsal?" Letterman asked a vacant Kidman when she failed to introduce a clip of Australia.
The New York Daily News, Newsday, Boston Globe and New York magazine joined the Chicago-Tribune, San Francisco Chronicle and Miami-Herald in slamming the film, set in Darwin and outback Australia during World War 2 and starring Kidman, Jackman, David Wenham and 12-year-old newcomer Brandon Walters.
"Baz Luhrmann hasn't made a movie since 2001's Moulin Rouge," New York Daily News critic Elizabeth Weitzman, who gave the film two out of five stars, wrote. "So wouldn't you think he'd have taken the time to get this one right?"
New York magazine's critic described Australia as an "overripe epic" with dialogue "that defies parody" and Kidman a victim of "temperamental tightness" on screen.
"That tightness has now spread to her skin," New York magazine's David Edelstein wrote.
"In one scene, she haltingly sings Somewhere Over the Rainbow to an orphaned half-caste; but watching that big immovable forehead, I thought of another bit from The Wizard of Oz: 'Oiiil caaan'."
The San Francisco Chronicle also had Kidman in its sights.
"Kidman has never seemed so lost in a role," Chronicle critic Mick LaSalle wrote. "Couldn't Luhrmann tell she was drowning?"
Positive reviews apart from the New York Times included Variety, Orlando Sentinel and the St Petersburg Times.
"Mr Jackman gives the movie oomph; Ms Kidman gives it a performance," the NY Times' Manohla Dargis wrote. " . . . a maximalist, Mr Luhrmann doesn't simply want to rouse your laughter and tears: he wants to rouse you out of a sensory-overloaded stupor with jolts of passion and fabulous visions."
What may surprise Luhrmann are the critics who point to a "racial double standard" and "near-racism" in the movie.
"What's worse is the near-racism running through Australia," Newsday's Rafer Guzman wrote.
"Nullah (Walters) speaks pidgin English and calls Lady Ashley 'Mrs Boss', a distasteful reminder of the bug-eyed slaves of Tara (in Gone with the Wind).
"Nullah's mystical grandfather - played by David Gulpilil, Australian cinema's favourite noble savage - seems like lazy stereotyping.
"And in typical fashion, more than one black character becomes a sacrificial lamb.
"The unintended consequence: Luhrmann's film is most engaging when its white stars are on the screen."
