Showgirls [DVD] [1995] [Region 1] [US Import] [NTSC]
When Goldie Hawn recommended Elizabeth Berkley for a small role in First Wives Club, she publicly stated that Berkley deserved the opportunity to redeem herself after starring in the ridiculous Showgirls. That says it all: this sleazy, stupid movie, which mixes soft pornography with the clichés of backstage dramas, is the kind of project an aspiring actress would have to put well behind her to keep a career going (though co-star Gina Gershon certainly benefited from her, uh, exposure in the film). Berkley plays a drifter who hitches a ride to Las Vegas, becomes a lap dancer and then a performer, and discovers–gasp!–there’s a whole world of sex and violence involved with these things. Gershon is probably the best element in the film, playing Berkley’s bisexual rival for the big spotlight on stage. Joe Eszterhas was well overpaid for writing this howler, and director Paul Verhoeven (Basic Instinct) should have known better than to take it seriously. –Tom Keogh, Amazon.com
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Review by Mark Angus for Showgirls [DVD] [1995] [Region 1] [US Import] [NTSC]
(4 / 5)
Rating:
I should start with a caveat – I am a huge Verhoeven fan. His Hollywood films are some of my favourite film treats, and I have probably watched them more times than is healthy.
What intrigues me about Showgirls is that it follows a familiar pattern within Verhoeven’s work, but one which seems to have passed most viewers by. Robocop was a masterful pastiche of policier dramas, ultraviolent underground movies, and tongue-in-cheek social commentary. Basic Instinct was a wonderful parody of Hitchcockian suspense drama mixed with steamy erotic thriller overtones. Total Recall is a sci-fi story about a man experiencing a traditional sci-fi story, with all the genre’s cliches and tropes writ large. Where these multi-layered works are generally acknowleged as such, Showgirls seems to have been dismissed as trash.
Of all of Verhoeven’s films, this one perfects the blending of parody with paradigm. Taking the story of the “country girl in big city loses her way” to its extreme, his ingenue star pouts and glides her way through the most outrageously camp and over-the-top story I’ve seen in a long time. The dance set-pieces are gloriously showy, the sex scenes ridiculously overblown, the performances hammed up to the max. Verhoeven revels in the smut and the glamour, and attempts to make the ultimate soft-porn extravaganza.
Like all of Verhoeven’s movies, the surface story and glossy production covers a great love and understanding of the genre in which he is working, and invests this rag-to-riches tale with a huge sense of fun, and class. I particularly like the ending, as she leaves Las Vegas with nothing, just as she began, even down to the driver and car. It gives a sense that this story has happened a thousand times, to a thousand poor girls, in the original “sin city”.
Review by David Rush for Showgirls [DVD] [1995] [Region 1] [US Import] [NTSC]
(5 / 5)
Rating:
Showgirls is an excellent cult film. Its filled with terrible dialogue delivered by actors in performances that they’d surely rather forget. Paul Verhoeven – usually a top notch director – fails spectacularly with his fourteenth film and the script by Joe “I Don’t Know Anything About Women” Eszterhas is laughable.
It stars Elizabeth Berkley as Nomi Malone (She’s alone in the world, get the joke?), an ambitious young woman who has dreams of becoming a famous dancer in Las Vegas. Berkley’s performance is something else. She smiles, she pouts, she shouts, she screams, she gyrates, she vomits, and often all of the above in the same scene. She is joined by Gina Gershon and Kyle MacLachlan, both similarly hamming it up to the extreme as Berkley’s fellow dancer and the “Entertainment Director” respectively. Glenn Plummer also waves goodbye to any credibility in his performance as Berkley’s quasi-love interest.
From reading this review you may wonder why I have given it five stars. The reason is this: You will never be more entertained in your life. It is hilarious, outrageous, ridiculous, completely unrealistic, shallow, stupid and ultimately a misunderstood masterpiece of everyone involved in the production doing everything wrong in perfect synchronicity.
The complete ignorance of all involved is obvious if you take a look at the Special Features on the DVD. If you watch the short making-of programme, the film is described by Eszterhas as “an all out rock and roll musical” which is unbelievable. First of all, the choreography of the dance scenes at the ‘Goddess’ show is ridiculous, there is no rock music in the film (apart from the song played over the end credits) and there are no songs in the film at all – so how is it a musical, you may ask?
A great piece of trash, go on, come over to the dark side!
Review by Lexi Halls for Showgirls [DVD] [1995] [Region 1] [US Import] [NTSC]
(5 / 5)
Rating:
I like it. It could be seen as barely disguised pornography, but unlike porn this actually has a good plotline and is fairly uncheesey. Elizabeth Berkley is very good in this! I remember the days when I used to watch her in the teen tv series “Saved By The Bell” Hasn’t she come a long way? Showgirls is a powerful, unpredictable movie and a turn on. Elizabeth’s character kinda comes full circle by the end of the movie. It’s satisfying. The people who give this a thumbs down are probably just offended by the huge amount of topless girls in it! I’d definately recommend this movie! Like I said, what’s not to like about it?
Review by Dmitri M. A. Hubbard for Showgirls [DVD] [1995] [Region 1] [US Import] [NTSC]
(1 / 5)
Rating:
Even Kyle McLauchlan distanced himself from his role in this movie. It is nearly as bad as watching the last hour of Casino. The whole movie is trying to be something else – Studio 54, Thelma and Louise, and other Kings of the B grade. If you are getting this for the sexual content, best avoid and head for the adult section.
Review by Ian Armer for Showgirls [DVD] [1995] [Region 1] [US Import] [NTSC]
(5 / 5)
Rating:
Ah, Showgirls. Like an idiot friend you invite out for drinks because he/she is guaranteed to make you look and feel better about your life, Showgirls is THE movie everybody should own. Why? Well, no matter how bad life gets it will never plunge to the terrible depths as this movie. You might be stuck in a really lousy job, dreaming of a better life and a career you ache for – but you will NEVER have to think ‘I worked on Showgirls’ in any capacity. You could die alone, in the gutter, having been shinked for a few no good reasons and think ‘well, at least I didn’t have anything to do with Showgirls!’ and die and be at peace. The world could be about to explode and you’ll turn to your family and say, smiling, ‘At least NOBODY has to watch Showgirls again!’
God, this movie is the nadir of cinema. It is so bad it defies belief. It’s stinks to high heaven. It’s camp in the sort of way that makes Liberace look ‘not camp’. What’s worse is that for such a ‘shocking’ film, there’s very little shocking about it (apart from the script and acting and direction and music and set design and, oh, everything!). Gone are the long, frenzied, sweaty nookie-fests of the equally hysterical (though rather enjoyable) ‘Basic Instinct’ and ‘in’ are women with – gosh! – their tops off dancing funny! Eek!
Nomi Malone goes to Vegas and there she becomes a dancer. She hits the big time and then gets involved with other random stuff that makes no sense as Joe Ezsterhas drunkenly hammers out the worst script in history and hands it over to Paul Verhoeven to make around the affair he has with Elisabeth Berkley. Kyle McLachlan sports uber floppy hair and is involved in one of the worst sex scenes in history – and knows it – as E.B. thrashes about like some harpooned whale.
It’s diabolical, it’s messy, it has zero ethics or message but thinks it is saying something and pretty much destroyed everybody’s career. Verhoeven managed to scrape back a little dignity with ‘Black Book’ but even he has slipped off the radar again. Eszterhas found Jesus. You might be tempted to take the same route after watching this flick. Still, the horror of Showgirls will never fade nor diminish. It’s brilliant, frankly. A great movie to watch with friends and howl with laughter as the debacle unfolds before your eyes.
You’ll feel better about life after watching this film. Trust me. Though I got my copy for 1p (plus P and P) and STILL feel ripped off…
***** (For life enhancing value)