Showgirls (1995) Full Review

Film Scene Investigation

Here’s my review of the movie, Showgirls.   Thanks for watching and please subscribe. New content dropping every week.   #cultmoviereview #moviereview #movie   For Exclusive Content:  https://www.patreon.com/filmsceneinvestigation   Rumble:  https://www.rumble.com/filmsceneinvestigations

Transcript

00:12welcome back guys it's me beau here on the film scene investigation channel thank you so much for

00:19checking out this video in today's review i'm going to be taking a look at the 1995 erotic

00:29drama showgirls this movie caused a lot of controversy when it was released back in the

00:38mid 90s and uh yeah i'm looking forward to taking a deep dive into this movie today just before we

00:45get into it guys if you haven't already please do consider subscribing to the channel all the

00:51support is greatly appreciated so showgirls from 1995 was written by the screenwriter joe esterhaz

01:02and was directed by the filmmaker paul verhoven elizabeth berkeley was in the lead role with the

01:11supporting cast including robert davie and carl mclaughlin now i recently watched this movie

01:19for the very first time having already been aware of it for many years i you know seen clips online

01:26i'd watched the trailer so yeah going into it i knew what to expect you know it was interesting to

01:35see elizabeth berkeley in such a provocative role you know like so many out there i first saw her in

01:44the tv show saved by the bell where she you know played such a wholesome character so yeah you know

01:53seeing her here in showgirls it was uh the complete contrast when it comes to the narrative

02:00of the film it began with a young woman called nomi making her way to las vegas in pursuit of

02:10stardom

02:10as a dancer nomi came from a troubled background her mother was murdered by her father and then her

02:20father committed suicide so uh yeah a pretty chaotic upbringing the trauma of losing both parents

02:30in such a horrific way you know that would affect anyone psychologically and it did with nomi who

02:39you know she basically became a problem child and ended up running away from her foster home so yeah

02:48the trip to vegas was a new beginning for nomi and yeah when she finally got there she quickly made

02:56friends with a fashion designer called molly who was played by actress gina revira while nomi was pretty

03:05hostile towards her molly was you know kind-hearted and she realized that nomi wasn't thinking straight

03:13you know she was kind of messed up and so she offered her a place to stay nomi accepted the

03:20offer

03:20and very quickly the two became best friends and once nomi had a you know place to stay she then

03:28focused all her efforts on you know trying to ingratiate herself into the showbiz circuit of las

03:35vegas nothing was going to stop her and she was willing to do anything to make the bit time she

03:43began

03:44working at this small time venue called cheetah's nightclub where the boss was a dick and the pay was

03:51lousy but nomi had no real other choice she wanted to be on stage and if that meant working as

04:02a stripper

04:03then so be it nomi ended up meeting crystal connors the star of the goddess production at the stardust

04:12casino conors who was played by actress gina gershon was everything that nomi wanted to be you know

04:21this big vega star dancing in front of these you know big huge crowds making loads of money and

04:29yeah you know being the center of attention nomi went on to mention that she danced at the cheetah's

04:37nightclub this wasn't something that uh really impressed crystal since she knew that the club had a

04:44bad reputation nevertheless this all led to crystal taking her boyfriend zach and going to see nomi

04:53perform live it was kind of interesting to see zach tagging along with crystal but i guess he was

05:01interested to find out if nomi had any talent or not and well nomi took to the stage and completely

05:10wowed the audience with her highly sexualized performance licking the dance pole and getting

05:18completely naked it was quite a sight to see and um you know when i watched that i did ask

05:26myself

05:27i wonder how many times it took elizabeth berkeley to you know nail that performance because i can

05:37imagine performing such a dance you know over and over again man that would be challenging for any actor

05:46male or female anyways nomi was great she tore the house down and impressed crystal and zach so much

05:56that they ended up requesting a private lap dance from her no me wasn't exactly happy with the request

06:05but given crystal was offering 500 simply for a lap dance she begrudgingly accepted the lap dance

06:15commenced and this really was the start of the sexual mind games that all three of them played on each

06:23other you had this strange love triangle emerging with zach and nomi growing closer together while

06:34crystal was on the sidelines becoming more and more jealous and you know things got even more complicated

06:42when nomi eventually was offered a part in the goddess production working alongside crystal

06:49you see zach had some major influence in the decision making which only led to more hostility

06:59between crystal and nomi so when it comes to showgirls there certainly was a lot going on in this movie

07:08i guess to begin with i would like to mention the story itself as it was the classic rags to

07:18riches

07:18tale that we've seen you know so many times before the rise and fall of an outsider you know just

07:28trying to you know become successful only this time it was set in the vegas showbiz industry the movie

07:37showed nomi's relentless pursuit of stardom doing whatever it took to make the big time and you know the

07:48further she went the darker the further she went the darker the situation became by the end of the movie

07:55nomi had become successful you know she was the star her dreams had come true but you know at what

08:05cost

08:05i did appreciate the film and its negative view on the showbiz industry and how it can really

08:15manipulate people into making some drastic life-changing sacrifices i mean we've seen it so

08:23many times before with these young celebrities getting fame at an early age getting sucked into

08:32that lifestyle and then you know winding up dead or in prison and when you look at nomi's journey

08:39from start to finish you know she was pretty much heading for disaster one way or another until you know

08:46she was able to see the error of her ways we also saw how the industry exploited dancers particularly

08:56the women and in some ways you could say that they were treated like cattle they were commodified to be

09:04used and abused so yes showgirls is a hyper-realized version of our own reality

09:13but the point still stands that the showbiz industry indeed can be very dangerous for those who are not

09:22cautious there also seemed to be this criticism of male-dominated workspaces with this notion that

09:32women can only become successful if they sleep with their boss you know we saw this very clearly

09:41with the zach and nomi relationship where zach ended up helping nomi only after they slept together

09:50you know some ways you could describe it as a transaction between two people who were able to

09:57both gain from it you know while i appreciated the film showcasing the sordid underbelly of showbiz

10:07this wasn't something that was a surprise to me you know from my understanding ever since its

10:14creation you know the hollywood industry has been run on favors and backhanders you know it's not what you

10:23know it's who you know and that's how hollywood has been that's how it is and that's how it will

10:30you know continue to go on in the future nevertheless i did appreciate the film you know exploring the ugly

10:37side of showbiz but um it wasn't anything i didn't know already when it comes to the acting in showgirls

10:46credit has to go to elizabeth berkeley who delivered a very memorable performance as nomi

10:53this was the actress's biggest role in her career and there's no denying that she fully committed to

11:02the part she clearly did a lot of work in pre-production preparing for those ruling choreographed

11:10dance scenes so when it came time you know her performance looked authentic i don't know how long

11:18it took elizabeth berkeley to nail those routines i can only imagine it must have taken weeks if not

11:26months but uh yeah you know credit to her for putting the effort in and making it all look legit

11:34now upon the film's release berkeley was heavily criticized for her performance which to me does

11:42seem a little unfair i understand that elizabeth berkeley isn't this you know mega talented award-winning

11:52actress but where she lacks in the acting department she's certainly made up for with her physicality

11:59on screen yeah you know in my eyes berkeley kind of got a raw deal out of it but um

12:06i'm just glad that

12:08you know now after many years a lot of people have come around to you know appreciating this film

12:14and her performance i thought robert davy was very good in the role as al torres the promoter at the

12:23cheetah's nightclub and the boss of nomi torres was this sleazy manipulator but he took a shine to nomi

12:35and gave her an opportunity when no one else would now while i enjoyed the performance

12:43i have to say that given the limited screen time that the character had i don't know i kind of

12:50thought

12:50that uh davy was wasted in this film davy is a very skilled actor he's been in some you know

13:00great

13:00movies over the years he plays a great bad guy but unfortunately in showgirls i felt that he really

13:08wasn't given enough time to showcase his talents you know when i saw davy's name pop up in the credits

13:16you know i was excited to see what he'd uh bring to the table but while it was good yeah

13:24it wasn't

13:25really noteworthy but that's not davy's fault that's the fault of the filmmakers for under utilizing the

13:34character production wise showgirls was a very well made movie that showcased this hyper-realized

13:43vision of las vegas entertainment showgirls reportedly had a 45 million dollar budget

13:52that doesn't surprise me because from what i saw it was you know all there on screen from the

13:59you know extravagant sets to the neon lights it was a very big production you know when i think about

14:07it

14:07it's a shame that this movie didn't do very well at the box office because after watching it i really

14:16did enjoy it and i found it far more entertaining than most movies we see released today all we get

14:24now

14:24is you know superhero movies and pointless remakes so movies like showgirls you know just wouldn't be made

14:34today and yeah that's a shame uh hollywood you know used to take more risks and now they just play

14:43it

14:43safe and now it's in decline so there you go and so dislikes for showgirls from 1995 my biggest dislike

14:55for the film would have to be the romantic subplot between nomi and the character james who was played by

15:03actor glenn plummer while nomi was on her ascension to the top she ended up meeting james at a nightclub

15:13he was a fellow dancer and was immediately attracted to her the two had this on-off relationship that

15:22failed to develop into anything serious and you know for me i just didn't really like

15:28the james character i mean yeah let's face it the character was a low life you know a cheat who

15:37couldn't hold down a job so when he started hanging around with nomi i did start to question

15:45why exactly you know would she be interested in a guy like that she was extremely ambitious you know she

15:53was aiming high the complete opposite to james who was you know in multiple dead-end jobs i know opposites

16:02attract and you know i know they had a love of dance that they shared but to me that wasn't

16:11a strong

16:12enough reason to warrant a relationship between the two you know james couldn't offer her anything she

16:21already couldn't get for herself so it just kind of seemed silly that she would you know become

16:28romantically involved with someone like him also like i said it didn't go anywhere they never got

16:35together and it really made no difference to the outcome of the main storyline within the film

16:42you know the only thing it did do was bloat the runtime so if you ask me i would have

16:51removed this

16:52whole romantic subplot it would have uh made for a better overall viewing experience and so

17:00ratings for showgirls from 1995 i'm gonna be rating this movie a strong six out of ten showgirls was this

17:11big budget erotic thriller from paul verhoeven and i must say i really enjoyed it going into this movie

17:20i you know had the mindset you know to not take things too seriously and i think that's the

17:28best way to you know view this movie given the dark humor that was in paul verhoeven's other movie

17:36robocop an instant cult classic i was prepared for some tongue-in-cheek satire that i knew the

17:45director could deliver i also really enjoyed elizabeth berkeley in the lead role as know me

17:53and a credit to her for shedding that good girl image that you know she had at the time her

17:59character

18:00uh had such a wild journey you know full of highs and lows and it kind of blurred the lines

18:06between

18:06victim and aggressor and i thought that was some very clever storytelling if you've seen showgirls then

18:14please let me know your thoughts and memories in the comments section below for those who haven't

18:20it is a recommendation from me just be prepared for a lot of nudity and well that's all from me

18:30today

18:30guys i do hope you've enjoyed my review of showgirls from 1995 i'll be back next week of course with

18:38another cult movie review don't forget to like and subscribe and of course take care

19:08so

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