On S List of Movie Reviews
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Showgirls (1995)
Rate:
9
Viewed:
9/06, 2/26
9/06:
Despite the bad press Showgirls had received, it's actually a daring, unique, and interesting picture.
What I like the most is the Greek tragedy principle at work: a young woman who instantly becomes famous and
is surrounded by insidious people who want to ruin her just for the hell of it. Of all characters, the best
is played by Gina Gershon who's treacherous. As for Elizabeth Berkley, it's an outstanding job: unrestrained
and raw with genuine acting throughout.
Hopefully, Paul Verhoeven is proud of his work. Misunderstood by the public, Showgirls isn't about
sex or nudity which is rather boring or relegated to the background. Instead, it's about themes. One of
them is female empowerment. Another is putting women down because of their gender. The third is abuse of
power simply because of higher-ups' ability to turn women into stars. By the way, that's a clever-looking movie
poster, especially when the body goes down to Elizabeth Berkley's leg. Whoever designed it should be commended.
All in all, Showgirls got maligned for the wrong reasons.
2/26:
I wanted to revisit Showgirls to see if I got this one wrong.
Apparently not. I refuse to accept it as a satire but rather a well-made movie that's a combination of
All About Eve, Spetters,
Flashdance, and any musical but with lots
of nudity. Elizabeth Berkley is Eve Harrington, Gina Gershon is Margo Channing, and Kyle MacLachlan is Bill
Simpson.
I'm impressed with Elizabeth Berkley. Sure, she did overact at times, but it's the right kind of overacting
given how vulnerable she is, especially when it comes to trust. More often than not, people take advantage of
her. With the exception of Demi Moore, as evidenced in Striptease, and
Sharon Stone, all A-list actresses would've never gone as far as Elizabeth Berkley; consequently, her career
was unfairly ruined for good.
Paul Verhoeven said, "The idea was to make the same loud, sleazy, bad music that you hear
in those Vegas shows, because that's how it actually is." Joe Eszterhas believed the film's message was about
the moral costs of the pursuit of stardom. According to IMDb, they "did about fifty extensive interviews with
real-life Las Vegas strippers, showgirls, producers, choreographers and casino owners, and incorporated parts
of their stories, characters and use of language in the screenplay, to show the amount of exploitation of
strippers in Las Vegas."
All in all, Showgirls is 100% accurate in terms of how cutthroat the showbiz world is, no matter where
the location is, just like The Oscar.