Director
Paul Verhoeven
Cast
Elizabeth Berkley ……….Nomi Malone
Kyle MacLachlan ……….Zack Carey
Gina Gershon……….Cristal Connors
Glenn Plummer……….James Smith
Robert Davi……….Al Torres
Alan Rachins……….Tony Moss
The Movie
If there ever was a film that was the subject of more hype than it deserved, it would be the now infamous Showgirls. One of the first films with a major release on an NC-17 rating, the film was hyped to the moon and had a white-hot intensity of anticipation. But when people see Elizabeth Berkley naked enough to the point where they wish she were clothed, you know something’s gone painfully awry.
Berkley, whose main claim to fame was portraying Jessie Spano in Saved by the Bell before this, was on the rise in Hollywood at the point this film was in production. Beating out Charlize Theron and Drew Barrymore, who both had been considered for the role, Berkley stars as Nomi Malone. She’s a mysterious stranger who wants to be a dancer, but can only find work dancing in the exotic manner. Spending 20 minutes of the film its running time completely naked, if the film had been anything worthwhile she would’ve been a much larger star than the direct to video supporting actress she’s become.
Showgirls follows Malone as she tries to become a legitimate dancer as opposed to giving lap dances in a seedy strip club. Coming from out of town hitchhiking with a brown-haired Elvis look-a-like, who ends up robbing her by the simple art of distraction using a slot machine, this unfortunately ends up being the film’s highest point as it’s nothing but low from there. And that’s saying something, one can suppose, considering that of everyone involved in the film only Gina Gershon (playing Nomi’s rival Cristal) managed to have some semblance of a career. And when the highlight of it is playing the love interest of Nicolas Cage in Face/Off, maybe the stench of this film carried over to Gershon as well.
The film’s problem is that while it embraces the NC-17 label in terms of sex and nudity, it does little else. This is beyond direct-to-video-level bad on so many levels a doctoral thesis couldn’t handle them with adequate space. From its disastrously bad dialogue – riddled with enough curse words to make one think that the script was an amalgamation of profanity meshed with just enough English to make it seem somewhat articulate – Showgirls is meant to be serious drama. If one took the fantasy of an oversexed 13-year-old whose just swallowed a bottle of Viagra, and then given unlimited access to Internet pornography, and then further commissioned them to write the most ludicrous sex-indulgent screenplay ever one might come out with Showgirls.
A/V QUALITY CONTROL
Presented in a Dolby Digital 5.1 format in a widescreen presentation, complete with 2.35:1 aspect ratio, the film’s sound and audio are surprising good. The film is colorful and vibrant, as well as having a relatively solid soundtrack to it, and both come through wonderfully.
The Extras
The Greatest Movie Ever Made is a commentary track by David Schmader. Including a video commentary from some Score’s girls, it’s amusing on some levels.
Lap Dance Tutorials is a feature on the art of the lap dance with some strippers from the world famous gentleman’s establishment Score’s. With some more gratuitous nudity thrown in, as perhaps the film just doesn’t have enough naked women in it one supposes, it’s surprisingly low key and not very interesting.
A Showgirls Diary is a “script to screen” feature that shows several scenes and how they eventually came to be on film.
Trivia Track is reminiscent of the old “Pop Up Video” segment on VH1 in which the film has various facts, et al, that pop up during the film’s running time with this feature turned on.
Original Theatrical Trailer is included as well.
Showgirls: Fully Exposed Edition |
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