Review of Showgirls

Showgirls is one of those trashy chick-flicks that you invite your college girlfriends over to your house accompanied with jeroboams of wine and champagne. Nomi Malone (Elizabeth Berkley) hitchhikes to Las Vegas where she dreams of becoming an exotic dancer at Stardust Resort. There, she goes through other adventures such as forming a friendship with Molly (Gina Ravera), performing pole dances at the Cheetah, making an unlikely friend with Stardust Goddess Cristel Connors (Gina Gershon), having periods during dance rehearsal, weird crazy sex with Zach Carey (Kyle MacLachlan), pushing Cristel down the stairs, meeting Andrew Carver (William Shockley), Molly’s rape and assault, and beating up Andrew Carver. I know this is a movie that continues to show midnight screenings at cult theatres, similar to The Rocky Horror Picture Show or The Adventures of Priscilla: Queen of the Desert. But unlike those two shows where they were entertainingly campy and silly, Showgirls does not have that same vibe. Don’t get me wrong, it has its unintentionally funny moments, mostly from Berkley’s legendary acting caliber. But, the pacing is slow, the writing is exploitive and sexist, certain plot threads go nowhere while others came out of nowhere, and we learn nothing about Nomi (or should I say Polly). All we know is that her parents died in a homicide/suicide, she has an incredible nationwide criminal record and has run away from a foster home in Oakland. However, we know nothing about what inspired her to her career, where she was born, what her childhood was like, how her parent’s deaths affected her psychologically or how old she was when they died. I want to say Showgirls is so bad it’s good, but, needless to say, it is nothing but a sleazy soap opera.

(1 ½ Chimps in Tutus out of 5)