Despite all the conservatives who claim otherwise, content of Hollywood movies today, at least those made by major studios, is more puritanical than it was some twenty years ago. Scenes featuring explicit sex or full frontal nudity are becoming thing of a past, and even bare female breasts are rare in major Hollywood productions. Reason for that could be found in NC-17 rating – one of the most tragic experiments in the history of cinema. Originally devised by MPAA to replace X-rating and remove pornographic stigma from "artistic" films, through the years it only resulted in stricter censorship standards for lower ratings, thus forcing major studios to gradually exclude certain contents from their films. Studios shouldn't be blamed for succumbing to pressure because the only brave attempt to defy NC-17 rating resulted in disaster. The only major production to be distributed under that rating was Showgirls, 1995 drama directed by Paul Verhoeven. This film not only turned out to be major commercial disappointment, but was also so thoroughly and universally trashed by critics that it remains one of the most despised films in the history of Hollywood.
The protagonist of the film is Nomi Malone (played by Elizabeth Berkley), attractive 21 year old girl with a shady past. She comes to Las Vegas in order to pursue career in dancing. Before she is able to become chorus girl, she must earn money by using her dancing talent in less than respectable places. One of those places is "Cheetah" strip club, where she is required not only to strip, but also to entertain VIP customers by lap dancing. During one of such private performances she gets noticed by Crystal Connors (played by Gina Gershon), star dancer of elite "Stardust" club. Crystal brings Nomi to audition and the young dancer, after many humiliations, finally becomes part of the chorus. Nomi, lacking any scruples, continues her way to the top, torn between Crystal and Crystal's boyfriend, club's entertainment director Zack Carey (played by Kyle MacLachlan).
Many of those who attacked Showgirls did it because of demeaning treatment of women in Joe Eszterhasz's script. Almost all of female characters were portrayed as perverts, whores or pathethic beyond comprehension (the best example is grotesque middle-aged stripper played by Lin Tucci). However, Eszterhasz gave equally rough to male characters and this is the main weakness of Showgirls. There simply aren't any characters audience might sympathise with it. Nomi's friend played Gina Ravera had potential to be some sort of moral anchor, but Eszterhasz burdened this character with too much stupidity to be likeable or even credible. Lack of credibility also burdens main character, who alternates between showing utter lack of morals and angelic virtues. Things aren't helped by Eszterhasz's truly atrocious dialogue.
Paul Verhoeven as director seemed like a good solution to problems created by Eszterhasz's script, at least judging by his work in Basic Instinct, one of the most influential films of 1990s. Unfortunately, script for Showgirls was much worse than Basic Instinct and, consequently, not even someone with Verhoeven's skills could rescue it. Here Verhoeven seems to use his talent and energy almost exclusively in spectacular dance scenes (including those in "Cheetah" strip club) while he sleepwalks in dull material between them. That includes even explicit sex scenes, which are, despite all the glamour, utterly prosaic and unconvincing compared with those in Verhoeven's 1992 hit. What remains of this film is couple of pretty, occasionally erotic, images drowned with the mediocre dialogue and dull plot. How uninspired this film could be best described by the fact that Elizabeth Berkley, despite the fact that she bared more skin than most other young Hollywood actresses would dare to do, is not exactly a household name, and that the most viewers remember her for smaller parts in the latter stage of her career. Her colleagues like MacLachlan, Gershon and Glen Plummer were luckier since they made their big breaks in much better films before and after Showgirls. The audience wasn't lucky and we would have to wait a long time before someone again dares to fight NC-17 rating.
RATING: 3/10 (+)
(Note: The text in its original form was posted in Usenet newsgroup rec.arts.movies.reviews on September 30th 2002)
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Critic: A