Either one hates it, or they love to hate it, but regardless, Showgirls has a special place in everyone's heart. Me, I'm straddling the fence on which of the two categories I fall into, but either way, I can't actually say anything bad about it. where I used to work, my boss loved showgirls. He would cut out clips from magazines with Gershon and Berkeley draping themselves over furniture and staring out with amusing come-hither stares. He'd then laminate them and place them around the store. I think he just genuinely loved it.

But even if you didn't like it, say, like the videohound reviewer, you still love to hate it. Anyone that has skimmed a guide knows videohound dedicates only a few sentences to each movie. But not showgirls, it got double the coverage including a lovely "Woof" rating (May be redeemable by unintentional passages of entertainment) and the far more colorful language "Long on ridiculous dialogue and bad acting and short on costumes, coming-of-age tale follows one young woman as she nakedly climbs the ladder of success as a Vegas showgirl. Oh, the things she must do to be headliner. Berkley makes the jump from TV's "Saved by the Bell" to portray Nomi, the young lap dancer with the gift of pelvic thrust and the will to succeed." and "Eszterhas script descends below its maker's usual standards, which are not particularly high. Titanic amount of female flesh on display fails to give film even a faint hint of sexuality, proof that there is a hell." Its like the reviewer actually relished the opportunity to do the write up. (S)he probably watched it five times in preperation.

Director Paul Verhoeven has excellent movies (or at least passable ones) under his belt including Basic Instinct and Total recall, so clearly he knew what he was doing. I think he was just having a blast doing the first official NC-17, and wanted it to be painfully campy. Its like he forgot to tell Berkeley to lighten up (somehing gershon caught onto) and Berkeley probably was deluding herself into thinking this was the profound dramatic role that was going to vault her into the Oscars or something. It was great seeing her take everything so seriously while everyone else, including the director, just wanted to do a skin comedy. Bwahahahaha!

I thought it sucked, now I think its intentionally sucky, and I might actually fall into the former category of Showgirl likers. I have a sneaking suspicion the videohound reviewer actually likes it too, and that perhaps, no one really hates it. Its impossible not to get a kick out of it.

Its still the #1 ranked b.o. grosser for nc-17, so clearly it did something right.

it was a bad bad bad movie but yes, i enjoyed it ... i was forced to watch the entire movie because i wanted to know how the whole story (or lack of it) unfolds.

but idont think it was ever suppose to intentionally suck though .. i really think those guys thought they were on to something .. now i think they were just ON something.

it's a guilty pleasure of mine, i can admit that. it's a terrible movie but i can't help but watch it every time it's on lol.

yep, its sucks!!

.....................but i dont mind watching it

Termi, Mata, I know right. Its totally enjoyable none-the-less. C'mon the guy who did Basic Instinct and Total recall knew he was making a crappy movie bABA. The audiance was just lead to believe otherwise because Berkeley spent the entire time with this little confused look with her eyebrows pulled together in anticipation of figuring out how to crawl to the top by pushing people down stairs. it was hilarious. I think everyone else was in on it except her. Seriously, it was so bad it was good.

yeah it's bad but it really is pretty entertaining. i just have to put the remote down and watch whenever it comes on. and it really wasn't that big of a flop when you think about it. it made $20.3 million at the box office with a $45 million dollar budget, and it probably made most of that up with various video releases over the years. and like you said dolce, it still is the #1 NC-17 movie of all-time.

Nope.

I really do think the person thought he was on to something ... that in some way or the other, it might actually be meaningful ... just with a lot of sex and people who acted horribly but seemed like they acted their hearts out.

Basic Instincts was a decent movie .. no more ...

No bABA, I disagree...The Dreamers thought it was onto something with meaningful sexual escapades. I didn't see it, but I bet you those kids acted their hearts out while having their menage a trois. It made under 3 million.

Showgirls was by far not trying to do the same thing Dreamers was, that's for sure. It would have been too taboo at the time. They had to make it bad yet entertaining.

Gina was on Dinner for Five on IFC and she talked about her experience on the set. She said it was completely different than she expected to be, eluding to it being unprofessional. She also said she attempted to play it as straight as possible, which is weird because she came off as campy and over the top.

As for Dreamers, Im not sure how it managed a NC-17 rating. It wasn't hot and heavy at all.

Probably has something to do with the fact no one in the film had any relationship what-so-ever to Vegas show industry, and so clearly were just fabricating an entire myth from the outside looking in. I don't know about you, but if I wasn't a bare-chested kitchified Cleopatra draped in a gold headress and bangles, and was just looking at a bare-chested kitchified Cleopatra draped in a gold headress and bangles, while trying to create a story about how she became a bare-chested kichified Cleopatra draped in a gold headress and bangles, and cast someone in the role who had never been a bare-chested kitchified Cleopatra draped in a gold headress and bangles...it would probably be inherently campy even if I thought I was taking it seriously.

Showgirls is among the worst movies I've ever seen, but it's hysterically awful. I had more fun watching it than I have many comedies.

The part where Elizabeth Berkley and Kyle MacLachlan are "intimate" had me laughing for about 15 minutes. She looks like a flopping fish out of water.

hahah lol i love that part....

If I remember correctly, there was even a scene were she was a flopping fish in water. Now that pretty tough to do. Look like a flopping fish out of water while being in water.

This movie is great.

honestly, i did think they were creating something meaningful .. a girl's experience all alone and what the reality of life really is ..

yes .... i really did think that somewhere in the middle of all that, that message was to be delivered.

It's the kind of movie that puts me off female nudity for a while after seeing it which is a hard thing to accomplish.

I see it manages to make sure you're not off male-nudity after the movie ...

goodh goodh

Ive yet to see it, but one day i will, hopefully its a hidden gem

No, it does not hold a special place in my heart. Mainly because I've never seen it.

It is for sure a guilty pleasure. Everytime it comes on showtime I watch it. Hell I have even ordered it a few times. Its a cult classic, camp classic ect.... I didnt think it was THAT bad. I mean it was bad, but not horrible like so many say. I thought the "head" dancer...(dont remember her name) was far worse at acting than Berkley.

Gina Gershon? She was one of the only "bright" spots of that movie, if you could call it one.

Elizabeth Berkley was atrocious. I've seen her in a few things since, and she's perfectly fine in low-key roles. She wasn't bad as Jessie Spano, either. But in Showgirls, ew.

I disagree, I thought Gina Gershon was worse than berkley
What else has berkley been in?

Let's just say, it was interesting and not in a good way...Considering this chick from Saved By The Bell was trying to achieve a film career and break from her teeny bop sitcom character, I think this movie put a fork in her career before it could even get started and that is sad and I'm sure to this day, she probably regrets doing this movie, or maybe not.. Hell who knows??

I've not seen it.

Trust me.. Your not missing much and at best, you redeem your I.Q for sparing yourself and your pocket book in wasting your time seeing it.. :wink:

I will take head to this.