Review of Showgirls (1995) by Alexander Z — 06 Aug 2012

It's obvious that Eszterhas intended to write the crappiest dialogue I've seen outside of a C or Z-movie. Every woman talks like a brain-damaged femme fatale or young rebellious girl. Every man talks like a stereotypical pimp/street tough. It's also pretty obvious that Verhoeven told every actor to portray parodies of a teenage boy's spunk fantasy. In the case of the women, that equals oversexualized badasses, and in the case of the men, that equals guys just a little bit stronger and more intelligent than said badasses. Our main character, Nomi, thrusts her body around like a fish getting electrocuted for the majority of the movie, and despite there being more skin than an actual porno movie, it's about the most unsexy thing I've seen. And that too is deliberate. Verhoeven is mocking sexuality, Vegas, and in a general sense the human dream of success (though why someone would dream of being a showgirl I haven't the foggiest).

Yet, unlike Verhoeven's other satires, this one really is hard to like, partly because it is a lot more unfocused. Total Recall, Starship Troopers, Basic Instinct, and to an extent Robocop retained the intelligence behind the gratuity, but if Showgirls didn't have boobs and ass everywhere, it wouldn't have much to stand on. Making most of the characters completely unlikeable is probably the biggest problem, because a satire is supposed to poke fun at some type of archetype. By making the most negative parts of that archetype central to the film, it draws the audience's attention and revulsion, and obscures the message. The most successful satires make the audience enjoy the characters while still understanding the criticism they are laying down. Here it's just about how stupid everyone looks.