Never before has one film so effectively killed this many things: Paul Verhoeven’s job prospects, Elizabeth Berkley’s image as an actress, an entire production company and the NC-17 rating. But somehow, the infamous “Showgirls” managed to do it all.
Starring “Saved By the Bell” alumna Berkley as aspiring Vegas dancer Nomi Malone, “Showgirls” is a failure on an incomprehensible number of levels. The most blatant is the writing, which is quite hilarious in retrospect.
The screenplay, penned by Joe Eszterhas, sold for $2 million in the mid-90s, the most expensive ever at the time. This screenplay brought many utterly hilarious lines, most of which are not suitable for general audiences, but spawned the glorious catchphrase,“Man, everybody got AIDS and sh*t.”
While this line makes no sense out of context, putting it in context doesn’t exactly help. Berkley’s Nomi does not say this line — one of the nonsensical supporting characters does — but she has her own fair share of hilarious dialogue. For instance, when asked where she’s from, Nomi gives the response “different places!”
Unfortunately, the acting does nothing to improve the atrocious writing. You would think for a $2 million screenplay, the studio would have come up with better talents than Berkley, Gina Gershon and Kyle MacLachlan.
But that is who they chose, and good lord was it misguided. As the plot progresses into “Nomi has become all that she ever despised,” Berkley’s inability to act becomes clearer as the screenplay calls for her to emote. Quite a feat with the ineptitude of the writing, but Berkley manages to be worse.
Her co-stars are no shining gems either, with Gershon’s lesbian-overtone villain being an especially persistent stain on the celluloid. This movie, written and directed by white men, displays a level of understanding of people who aren’t white men so shallow that puddles give it a run for its money.
There’s a scene late in the movie where Gershon and Berkley talk about eating dog food (no, really), and the lack of comprehension of how women behave and talk defies belief.
But they’ve got nothing on the portrayal of black characters. There are two black characters integral to the plot; Nomi’s best friend Molly and James, a helpful fellow who drops the aforementioned line about a certain unsavory disease.
These characters essentially only exist to serve the needs of the protagonists, and have no other defining qualities.
And since this movie was written and directed by ignorant white men whose perception of the world is limited enough to compare to Mr. Rochester’s wife in “Jane Eyre,” Molly and James’ characters almost make negative sense.
Ultimately, little else can be said about “Showgirls” without watching it. Just be prepared for a whole lot of nonsense and breasts.
