Showgirls is a 1995 erotic drama about a young woman who comes to Las Vegas with dreams of being a dancer. She’ll soon learn that behind all the glitz and glamour, is a lot of grime and dirt.
Showgirls has the notoriety of being one of the worst movies ever made. It won seven Golden Raspberry awards and was rated the worst movie of the decade in 2000. It basically killed the movie career of actress Elizabeth Berkley, who wanted to distance herself from her work in TV’s Saved By The Bell. It also was the first and last time the NC-17 rating was ever released in mainstream theaters.
Yet despite all the backlash and bad reviews, it started gathering a cult following after its release. More and more people began watching it and by doing so, they were able to enjoy themselves and not take the movie itself so seriously. During its theatrical run, I remember overhearing people saying that this was going to have some explicit sex scenes close to a XXX rating. Theater owners would have to hire security guards to stand in front so no one could sneak in.
When I first saw Showgirls, I was 16-years-old and I was mainly looking at it to see naked girls, which there was plenty of, but strangely, I never found it to be all that sexy. For many months I’d been hearing these stories about how edgy it was and yet after I saw it, I had to ask why.
Flash forward a bit and it wasn’t until the movie got a special edition box set that I decided to look at it again. This time I picked up on the humor a bit more – intentional or not, they are still very funny. Nomi’s (Berkley) intense eating of fries near the start of the movie; the heartfelt yet awkward moment when she reunites with the manager of a strip club she used to work at; the infamous pool scene where she has sex and is shown flopping around like a fish on a hot grill. All great moments. However, the scene I like most is one near the end.
First, a brief recap: When Nomi Malone first gets to Las Vegas, she wins big and then loses everything. These early moments of her at the casino set up what’s to come. Distraught, she flips out and begins beating on a car that turns out to be owned by Molly Abrams (Gina Ravera). Molly soon buys Nomi dinner and the two become best friends. Cut to several years later and Nomi is a dancer at a fancy Las Vegas Hotel show where works as a backup dancer. Soon though, after an accident backstage drop the lead act, Nomi gets her chance and become main attraction.
THAT MOMENT IN
SPOILERS: After Nomi’s debut as the headliner, there’s a huge party in her honor. This is odd because she only did the one show and yet now all these people show up and begin heaping on praise. Meanwhile, in the house is this one singer Molly has been obsessed with for a long time, a guy who sort of looks as if Yanni, Russell Brand and Meatloaf all had a baby (Google them). He makes a pass at her and after his sad pick up line doesn’t, Nomi introduces him to Molly.
Now things get even weirder. Molly goes to the singer’s room willingly to have sex with him and after they kiss for a while, two of his bodyguards show up and … well, they rape her. This is in a very public place and what’s more bizarre is that the singer doesn’t get arrested or even called out. This woman comes stumbling out of the room all bruised up and no one does a thing.
Nomi tries to do right by calling the cops. She waits until she is back at the office, but at least she still tries. However, her manager Zack (Kyle MacLachlan) stops her and reveals things about her past that she though were kept hidden. It’s bit of blackmail. Now, Nomi has a choice. She could tell the cops and lose her gig at the hotel and maybe find another … or, she could go find the singer that raped Molly and beat the living snot out of him. If you guessed Option 2, then good for you. After the beat down, she flees, hitchhiking to Los Angeles and – surprise – is picked up by the very same guy who scammed her at the start of the movie. When he asks her what she has won in Vegas, her reply says it all.
Writer Joe Eszterhas was paid an astonishing three million dollars for his script to Showgirls and as expected, the movie gets lost in the male gaze. Director Paul Verhoven does his best to make the movie look legit and at times does succeed. This is often a good looking film. As for the acting, yeah it’s over-the-top and melodramatic. Yet that’s on the Verhoven as well, who had his cast act that way. That said, if this retelling of All About Eve was taken more seriously, I don’t think it would have been as memorable. Some of the worst quotes have become iconic and there are moments that have since become legendary. Showgirls is not a good movie, but that doesn’t mean it’s not entertaining.