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SHOWGIRLS
Fully Exposed Edition
Review by Michael Jacobson
Stars:
Elizabeth Berkley, Kyle MacLachlan, Gina Gershon, Glenn Plummer, Robert
Davi, Alan Rachins, Gina Ravera
Director: Paul Verhoeven
Audio: Dolby Digital 5.1
Video: Anamorphic Widescreen 2.35:1
Studio: MGM
Features: See Review
Length: 131 Minutes
Release Date: July
“I’m
a DANCER!”
It’s
hard to believe it’s been almost 15 years since Showgirls first lap
danced its way into our lives, isn’t it?
I can still remember it like it was yesterday…mostly because, I
confess, I was there on opening day. Not
because I really bought into the hype about it being the steamiest, most
envelope-pushing feature this side of an NC 17 rating.
No, it was because of the crush I’d always had on Elizabeth Berkley.
Even in the Saved by the Bell days, when all my friends were ga-ga
over Tiffani-Amber Thiessen as Kelly, my heart belonged to Ms. Berkley as
Jessie.
As
Jessie, she was the no-nonsense smarty who stood for equal rights and women not
being treated as objects. As Nomi
Malone in Showgirls…well, let’s just say our little Jessie had a
change of heart.
The
movie delivers spectacle in terms of what you see, but at the same time, offers
very little to connect to. It’s
the kind of picture you can only respond to with your libido and not your heart,
mind or soul. In fact, at over two
hours, it’s a little bit like being caught up in someone else’s wet dream.
That
someone would be Joe Eszterhas, who has delivered about an equal amount of
really good and really bad screenplays in his career. With Showgirls, he wears his drive on his sleeve and
makes no apologies. I’ve frankly
never seen a film that seemed to so perfectly express one man’s lurid fantasy
with absolutely no regard for reality (at least one that wasn’t made by
Michael Moore). He
apparently likes seeing women dominate with their bodies and other objects,
which is why I think the movie begins with Nomi wielding a switchblade and ends
with her kicking the crap out of a brutal rapist, while in the middle, using lap
dancing so forcefully as to make it seem like an interrogation technique.
Okay,
a little more detail is in order…Nomi Malone (“Know me?
I’m alone”…hmmm) comes to Las Vegas to pursue her dream of dancing,
only to find a less than warm welcome when she gets robbed and left with
nothing. She takes up with a
stranger named Molly (Ravera), and soon finds the shortest way to her dream is
exotic dancing, though the emphasis is less on dancing and more on exotic (I
love the sleazy club owner who says things like, “Dis is a class joint”).
While
dreaming of someday making it to the famed Stardust, that club’s lead dancer
Crystal (Gershon) comes in with her slimy boyfriend Zach (MacLachlan) and pays
for a $500 lap dance from Nomi for him. Fortunately
for us, we only had to pay the price of a movie ticket to see it.
The
plot, if you can call it such, evolves into a kind of All About Eve scenario
where Nomi finally gets a chance at the Stardust, finds that being on the bottom
rung of a bigger show isn’t all it’s cracked up to be, and schemes to take
Crystal’s place in the lead role. She
learns things along the way such as that she’s expected to make herself
available for high rolling clients, and that…ready for this?…some of the big
wigs in show business are complete louses. As Hannah Montana might say, "Ya THINK?!"
That’s
the bare bones version of the story, but of course, the real story was the open
attempt to create the first Hollywood adult feature in some time.
In a sense, it succeeded…it had all the production values of a major
studio offering while serving up all the cheesy limitations of a true adult
film. At the time, Eszterhas was
the highest paid screenwriter working in Hollywood.
I don’t even think he considered quality when he wrote this script…he
probably just figured he would go for broke in reveling in all of his
misogynistic fantasies and stringing together a row of his favorite masturbatory
images, and guessed that with the right marketing, he’d have a hit.
He was right, and if his goal was also to craft one of the most notorious pictures of all time, he succeeded. But for those who actually see it, they can’t help but come away a little disappointed that this was the best he could come up with in trying to craft a piece of pure eroticism. There is eye candy galore, but little to actually connect to.
It’s safe to say that this movie didn’t do much for the careers of
director Paul Verhoeven or even my lovely Elizabeth, who did her best in
bringing an intensity to a thankless role that merely required her to look good
sans clothes. On that level, at
least, her performance was a success.
Video
***
This
is a colorful movie with extreme lighting schemes, and as such, MGM’s
anamorphic transfer does the trick nicely.
Colors are bright and well represented, and images generally sharp and
clear; only one or two lower lit moments show a bit of murkiness, but nothing
terribly distracting. Since I’m
guessing most won’t be watching this movie for the technical aesthetic
qualities of the disc, I’d have to say that it’s more than good enough.
Audio
***
The
5.1 soundtrack is quite serviceable, with the music/dancing scenes providing the
most dynamic punch. Spoken words
are clean and clear throughout, even against various levels of background
atmospheric noise, and the use of surrounds is minimal but tasteful.
Features ***
The disc comes with a commentary entitled “The Greatest Movie
Ever Made” (how’s THAT for chutzpah?) by
David Schmader, along with video commentary of the dance club scene by the girls
of Scores. Those ladies also offer
a “lance dap tutorial”…’nuff said.
Finally, there is a making-of featurette, a bonus trivia track, and the
original trailer.
Summary:
