Showgirls (1995) MGM/Drama-Musical RT: 131 minutes Rated NC-17 (nudity and erotic sexuality throughout, some graphic language and sexual violence) Director: Paul Verhoeven Screenplay: Joe Eszterhas Music: David A. Stewart Cinematography: Jost Vacano Release date: September 22, 1995 (US) Cast: Elizabeth Berkley, Kyle MacLachlan, Gina Gershon, Glenn Plummer, Robert Davi, Alan Rachins, Gina Ravera, Lin Tucci, Greg Travis, Al Ruscio, Patrick Bristow, Michelle Johnston, William Shockley, Dewey Weber, Rena Riffel, Melissa Williams, Ungela Brockman, Melinda Songer, Jack McGee. Box Office: $20.3M (US)/$37.8M (World)
Rating: ****
A critical and commercial bomb at the time of its release, the “erotic drama” Showgirls has since become a favorite guilty pleasure of many including yours truly. It was original conceived by director Paul Verhoeven and writer Joe Eszterhas, the dynamic duo behind the sexy, sleazy thriller Basic Instinct, as a serious drama about fame and ambition from the perspective of a young woman who comes to Las Vegas with dreams of being a dancer. It’s a dream she’ll do anything to achieve and I mean ANYTHING.
Its release in September ’95 came with a great deal of hype surrounding the huge amount of sex and nudity. It was enough to earn the picture an NC-17 rating. The $45 million dollar extravaganza is the first and only NC-17 movie to receive a wide release in mainstream theaters. MGM hoped for a hit, but the overwhelmingly negative reviews kept audiences at bay. It turns out nobody really wanted to see a big budget dirty movie. It ended its run a few weeks later with only $20 million to show for it. Then a miracle of sorts occurred. When it came out on video just three months later, sales and rentals went through the roof. Showgirls took on new life as a cult movie. People threw viewing parties. Some theaters started showing it at midnight. It became the Rocky Horror Picture Show of the 90s.
I too hated Showgirls when first came out. I attended a midnight preview with a couple of friends at a University City theater. The place was jammed with college students, mostly guys (big surprise). I was disgusted by the movie as well as some of the remarks I heard during the movie. But nothing sickened me more than the row of guys that cheered during the gang rape scene. I really hope they were drunk because if they weren’t, they have some serious issues they need to work on. I left the theater feeling depressed and dirty. I was convinced I’d just witnessed the final step in the downfall of western civilization.
So what changed my mind about Showgirls? Funny I should ask. I got into a discussion with an acquaintance and his partner at a New Year’s Eve party later that year. They saw the movie and loved it. I asked why they loved it. They asked why I hated it. I told them I thought it was misogynistic and perverted. They told me I was looking at it all wrong, that it’s NOT a serious film but trash disguised as art. They suggested I give it a second chance. That’s just what I did a few weeks later. I rented it and rewatched it. ZAP! It was like a light suddenly went on in my head. I got it! It’s a camp classic along the lines of Russ Meyer’s Beyond the Valley of the Dolls. I LOVED it although I still could have lived without the gang rape.
In an effort to shed her good girl image from the teen sitcom Saved by the Bell, Elizabeth Berkley took on the role of Nomi Malone, a drifter we first meet hitchhiking to Vegas. It’s made clear early on what we’re in for when Nomi pulls a switchblade on the driver for propositioning her. The sight of Jessie Spano sporting a blade is shocking, funny and surreal. Girl, this is worse than the time you got addicted to caffeine pills (“I’m so excited! I’m so… scared!”). It’s even weirder to hear her drop f-bombs left and right not to mention seeing her take off her clothes whenever possible.
ANYWAY, Nomi makes to Sin City where she is promptly robbed and abandoned at a casino by the creep. Luckily, the car she decides to beat on in anger belongs to Molly (Ravera, Soul Food), a costume designer with a heart of gold. She invites Nomi to move in with her after knowing her for only a few minutes during which Nomi displays clear evidence of emotional and behavioral issues. Oh Molly, so kind and so dumb. Of course, they become good friends.
A few weeks later, Nomi is working as a stripper at a sleazy joint called the Cheetah. Her boss is a slimeball named Al (Davi, Die Hard) who isn’t joking when he says he expects his girls to give him blow jobs if they want to last longer than a week. One day, Molly invites Nomi to come to work with her (is it Bring Your Chemically Imbalanced Roommate to Work Day?) at the Stardust Casino where she’s working on a stage show called “Goddess”, a tacky, topless production that puts Satan’s Alley (the show in Staying Alive) to shame. It’s there that Nomi first meets the star of the show, a capital B bitch named Cristal Connors (Gershon, Bound) who promptly insults her bringing on yet another famous Nomi meltdown. It’s the beginning of a weird hate-love relationship that intensifies when Cristal shows up at the Cheetah and pays Nomi $500 to give a private lap dance to Zack Carey (MacLachlan, Blue Velvet), the entertainment director at the Stardust, while she watches. It’s humiliating, but Nomi gives Zack the best ride he’s ever had with his clothes on.
Why don’t we just cut to the chase? When a spot opens up in the show’s chorus line, Cristal gets Nomi an audition that she aces despite flipping out at the director Tony Moss (Rachins, Dharma & Greg) and throwing a bowl of ice cubes in his face. Hasn’t this girl ever heard of Valium? Once a cast member, she witnesses first-hand how cutthroat show business is backstage. She watches while one dancer causes another to be injured while performing. Then she starts eyeing the lead role. This is when Showgirls turns into All About Eve with boobs and other body parts.
This is how I’d sum up Showgirls; it’s All About Eve meets 42nd Street written by Jacqueline Susann. It’s basically a trashy backstage soap opera with tacky musical numbers. Much of it focuses on Nomi and Cristal’s relationship. They’re not friends and not exactly enemies. You might say they’re rivals with some underlying sexual attraction. Nomi wants what Cristal has and Cristal wants Nomi. Any way you slice it, it amounts to some of the best cinematic trash I’ve ever indulged in.
Showgirls is so bad, it’s GREAT! It won a then-record of seven Golden Razzies including Worst Picture and a well-deserved Worst Actress for Berkley. Her performance is transcendently terrible. Not once does she deliver a single line of dialogue that’s in any way convincing. Her idea of acting seems to be saying things like “I’m a dancer!” and “Back off, mother f***er!” in a tough voice. Her dancing consists of the same wild hand and arm movements. Her idea of sexy is licking a stripper pole. I’ll give Berkley this; she has this undeniably fierce energy that carries her through one ludicrous development after another. She’s also very agile.
The thing about Showgirls is that almost every character (except Molly) is horrible in some way. Take James (Plummer, Speed), a professionally trained dancer who takes an interest in Jessie… I mean, Nomi that’s both professional and sexual. He creates a part for her in a show he’s writing, but gives it somebody else when she refuses to sleep with him. He shows some decency when offering advice about her dancing- e.g. “Dancing ain’t f***ing.” However, he’s clearly a misogynist with the way he talks to women- e.g. “Get me a beer, bitch.” After Molly, he’s one of the nicer characters in Showgirls and he’s a real POS.
Dialogue written by Eszterhas is typically bad, but it’s positively laughable in Showgirls. There are so many hilarious lines, it would be impossible to acknowledge them all. I may as well just copy and paste the entire screenplay. Instead, I’ll give you a few samples:
Nomi (to Zack): “I liked it when you came. I liked your eyes.”
Lecherous guy in casino to Nomi: “Sooner or later you’re going to have to sell it.”
Al: “It must be weird, not having somebody cum on you.”
James: “I have a problem with pussy. I always have and I’m always gonna.”
Mr. Karlman, the casino owner (Al Ruscio): “Nomi Malone is what Las Vegas is all about! She’s dazzling, she’s exciting and very, very sexy!”
Cristal, in a prophetic statement: “There’s always someone younger and hungrier coming down the stairs after you.”
There’s more, much more, but I’ll leave it to you to discover it for yourself.
The shameless overacting in Showgirls is another highlight. Gershon really takes it to the next level as a bisexual Vegas diva who gets off on humiliating Nomi. Their scene together at Spago where they talk about Nomi’s breasts and eating dog food is something delicious to savor. MacLachlan really brings on the sleaze as a character labeled a pimp by James. That’s essentially what he is with the way he exploits Nomi and the other girls. It sounds like entertainment director and pimp are NOT mutually exclusive titles after all.
Davi is the absolute personification of slimy pervert. He would not be left standing in today’s MeToo environment. Lin Tucci (recently of Orange Is the New Black) is fun as the Cheetah’s resident MC named “Mama Bazoom” for two good reasons that she pops out of her dress at every opportunity. She gets to say foul things like “I got bigger tits than the f***in’ Virgin Mary and I got a bigger mouth too!” She steals every scene she’s in. Rachins nails it as a self-described prick. He’s another potential casualty of MeToo.
No review of Showgirls would be complete without mention of what has to be the most ridiculous sex scene ever put on film. It has to be seen to be believed. Mere words cannot do it justice, but I’ll try. It takes place in a swimming pool. It’s between Nomi and Zack. She screws his brains out. During it, Berkley displays her agility by doing what looks like a Flipper imitation as she draws closer to orgasm. Is this even covered in the Kama Sutra? It’s a true comic high point.
What else can I say about Showgirls except that it’s a camp masterpiece? It can be argued Showgirls is a savage satirical allegory about Hollywood, celebrityism and selling one’s soul to attain it. It’s an argument I happen to buy, but I like the “trash as art” explanation better. That’s why it’s so fun to watch. That is, except for that awful rape scene involving poor Molly and his famous singer she idolizes. You know the guy’s a creep when Nomi says he she likes his singing and he responds by saying he likes her ass. There’s nothing entertaining about rape, period. What is cool is how Nomi exacts revenge for her only true friend. What she does to the bastard is completely justifiable. I can’t imagine any jury in the world convicting her of any crime.
That being said, I stand by what I said about the movie being a camp masterpiece. I don’t think Russ Meyer could have done it any better. Three cheers for Verhoeven and Eszterhas and four stars for Showgirls!
