Like many of its characters, Showgirls has been around the block a few times. This 1995 NC-17 flick was virtually kicked out the theater, lambasted by critics, and found itself winning the kinds of awards nobody wanted to win. In the years since the film's release it's clear that time hasn't been a kind bedfellow, but a recently released Blu-ray edition has given some new life to the movie. Is it worth dropping the cash for this table dance? Or are you better off saving your dollar bills and going somewhere else?
Directed by Paul Verhoeven (Basic Instinct, Robocop), Showgirls has become a very polarizing title. There are those that would say the film is a satire about the underbelly of the Las Vegas Strip and that it sheds light on what goes on behind the scenes in Sin City. Then there are those that would call it a trashy mess of a film that exists solely to expose breasts, degrade women, and exaggerate adolescent ideas about sex being a gymnastic sport. The truth of the matter is the experience one will get from Showgirls depends entirely on the individual.
Naomi Malone (Elizabeth Berkley) is a down on her luck girl from the middle of nowhere who dreams big of becoming a dancer in Las Vegas. She dresses like a hooker, barely thinks twice about exposing herself, and has the mouth of a truck driver, but don't you dare call her a "whore". In the opening scene of the film she is picked up while hitchhiking and threatens her driver when he makes an advance upon her. Naturally she's ditched once they get there and hits rock bottom her very first night. There's a certain naïveté to her personality and she demonstrates her immaturity by throwing a temper tantrum when a bystander tries to help her.
Eventually she finds herself working at a strip club called the Cheetah where the customers are sleazy, and the owner is even worse. One circumstance leads to another and she's soon roped into a twisted circle by a starlet named Crystal Connors (Gina Gershon), who thinks she's hot and finds her tantrums appealing. Crystal gets Naomi an audition and soon her natural talent speaks for itself. She lands a role dancing for a hotel show, but finds that her dream isn't quite what she expected.
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