Review of Showgirls (1995) by Irene Y — 15 Nov 2014

Nomi is watching Cristal from the audience for the first time. She mimics some of Cristal's hand motions perfectly. She gets it! I'm excited! ...Those are the types of transparent notions that this film is hoping to pass along to its audience. The aspects of Showgirls that are most laughable aren't the things on the screen, but the blatant expectations of the filmmakers that what they present will evoke certain emotions from us. This is why there is no shortage of drama in Showgirls. It's induced at every possible moment, constantly trying to make us react--like a soap opera...or a Tyler Perry film.

But exploited drama isn't the only cancer in this movie. Besides the distractingly jarring and clanking dialogue, the most annoying aspect is Nomi herself. She's so fragile and bipolar, like the crazy girl your friend dated while you questioned why he stayed with her for a year. Her emotions are so up and down that it becomes annoying and almost insulting to her gender. The character is written as though she is supposed to have a chip on her shoulder, but then she has the confidence of an olympic athlete. She is our main protagonist, yet she's so unlikeable that you're not even rooting for her. In fact, you don't know who you're really rooting for at all--I guess the ending?? None of the characters' motives make any sense and are ridiculously inconsistent. Nobody is set in stone. Even Molly, the only one who doesn't really do anything wrong, sees her best friend and trailer-mate (who apparently she doesn't know very well) obviously going down a bad path and barely makes any effort to give her support of any kind.

Regardless of everything I've said so far, it's a pretty entertaining bad movie. There's actually a good overarching story here, and if you stick it through, you'll actually appreciate the ending. It might even inspire or teach a lesson now and again. I heard someone say that Showgirls is like the Cocktail of dancing movies. Although I don't like it as much as I like Cocktail, I don't hate this movie. There's something about it that keeps you watching. They wisely (and annoyingly) make you wait until the end to find out about Nomi's past. It all ties in nicely by the time the credits roll.

Twizard Rating: 62.