Showgirls
SHOWGIRLS (18)
D: Paul Verhoeven
United Artists/Carolco/Chargeurs (Alan Marshall &
Charles Evans)
US/France 1995
131 mins
Drama
W: Joe Eszterhas
DP: Jost Vacano
Ed: Mark Goldblatt & Mark Helfrich
Mus: David A. Stewart
Elizabeth Berkley (Nomi Malone / Polly Ann Costello), Kyle
MacLachlan (Zack Carey), Gina Gershon (Cristal Connors), Glenn Plummer (James Smith), Robert Davi (Al Torres), Alan Rachins (Tony Moss), Gina Ravera (Molly Abrams), Lin Tucci (Henrietta
'Mama' Bazoom)
Showgirls is a bad movie, a notoriously bad movie. In
fact, it's so over-the-top bad, that perhaps the audience are missing the point and Paul Verhoeven's film is so flooded with satirical observations that it quite literally disappears inside
itself.
The story follows a young woman with dreams of stardom,
but her name in lights only goes as far as headlining a strip show in Las Vegas, sleeping with the boss and screwing over her buddies on the way to the top.
The characters are so unconvicingly unpleasant here that
it's nigh impossible to side with anyone, the dialogue is ridiculously banal and the sex scenes are unintentionally hilarious.
Perhaps Paul Verhoeven knew better the film he was making,
but the audience certainly weren't on the same wavelength. The film has since emerged to be a cult favourite, albeit for the wrong reasons.
3/10
