We all have guilty pleasure movies. Movies that aren’t that good, but we can’t help but enjoy for whatever reason it might be. For the most part, we know they are trash, but there’s something about them that keeps us coming back to them. For me, one of them is Showgirls, which dropped in cinemas on September 22, 1995, and it’s celebrating its 25th anniversary today.
Showgirls centers on a “street-smart” drifter Nomi Malone, played by Saved By The Bell‘s Elizabeth Berkley, who ventures to Las Vegas and climbs the seedy hierarchy from stripper to showgirl.
Showgirls was the first, and to date, only NC-17 rated film to receive a wide release in mainstream theaters. For those that don’t know, an NC-17 rating is even higher than R in regards to being taboo. Individual theaters often refuse to exhibit films with that rating. The film got the rating due to its nudity and erotic sexuality, some graphic language, and sexual violence. Rating it NC-17 was a death blow for the film being financially successful in cinemas. The film pulled in $37 million and had a $45 million budget, which is still impressive despite the obstacles.
It also ruled the 1996 Razzie Awards (the Oscars for “bad” film). It won a then-record seven Razzies out of 13 nominations. rd that still stands. They include Worst Picture, Worst Actress (Elizabeth Berkley), Worst Director, Worst Screenplay, Worst New Star (Elizabeth Berkley), Worst Screen Couple (“any combination of two people (or two body parts)”), and Worst Original Song. It would later win an eighth Razzie Award for Worst Picture of the Last Decade in 2000.
The film was intended to make Elizabeth Berkley a star and to shed her nice girl image of Jessica Spano from Saved by the Bell. It takes a lot of courage to make such a career move. While it failed terribly and pretty much stopped her film career dead on its tracks, I applaud her for being bold to make such a decision. It’s such a strange and unique performance wherein a weird way you’re mesmerized by her screen presence even if what she is delivering isn’t Oscar-worthy. I feel she did a great job of what was asked of her.
Director Paul Verhoeven has gone on record saying he should be blamed for how her performance turned out because he asked her to act it that way, pushing her to that direction. Elizabeth is a beautiful woman with a great body, and she delivered the film’s intended sexuality while rocking some moves.
Gina Gershon as the marquee name who was fighting to keep her spot as the Queen B just oozed sexuality in the film and was so conniving and a true manipulator. She played her role to perfection and was brilliant to me here. It’s like she knew deep down that she was in a stylish piece of garbage film and used it to her advantage.
Despite the failure, the film gained new life on the home video market home in the United States, generating more than $100 million from video rentals and became one of MGM’s top 20 all-time bestsellers. The film has become a cult film, while not on the level of The Rocky Horror Picture Show, it has attracted a similar midnight crowd that dresses up as characters from the film and has live shows where re-enactments take place in front of the screen.
To me, this film is the definition of the term “so bad it’s good.” It’s such a known guilty pleasure that the term “Showgirls-bad” was even created to use for other films that fall in the same category that this masterpiece of pure trash does.
Its everlasting legacy all these years later means that in its way, the film managed to connect with a particular crowd and did something right that back in 1995 people didn’t get. It’s a film you want to continue to watch to learn the lines and just screen tell them non-fans this wasn’t made for you but us. Even renowned directors such as Quentin Tarantino and Jim Jarmusch have gone on record talking about their appreciation for it and being fans.
It was written by Joe Eszterhas and directed by Paul Verhoeven and served as a follow up to their previous collaboration, the trashy yet super successful Basic Instinct. They did a lot of similar stuff with sexuality and trashiness this time around but didn’t do it as successful. They went all out this time around in all the wrong ways.
While some consider it one of the worst films of all time and criticize it for so much, I view Showgirls as a satire. I understand the criticism people have towards the film being vile and misogynistic, and they aren’t wrong. I feel that’s the point it was trying to make, tackling showbiz’s sleaziness and shadiness. While I don’t think it’s right, I can’t be down with calling it one of the worst films ever made for the simple fact that it’s so watchable.
Showgirls is a satire covering the morality tale of these female characters who climb their way to the top, similar to Valley of the Dolls or Mommie Dearest. It draws attention to the extremes that some runaways go to achieve success, especially in the field of competition, such as being a showgirl and trying to get to the top of the food chain. This film attempted to be an intelligent social commentary on the sex industry, and while it failed in that aspect, I try seeing its negatives in a positive light to work it for my enjoyment.
Another way to see this would be as a sexual parody to the cinematic classic All About Eve, it tackles many of the same themes of that film. Established legend fighting to hold on to her spot and being jealous of the hot newcomer who has everybody’s affection. It’s a tale as old as time and one that will never get old. I love that this film did it differently, not taking itself too seriously. The film displays the motto of survival of the fittest, where one must do anything in their power to survive this cruel world and to get one above corporate douchebags.
Now for me, it’s not a guilty pleasure because of all of the nudity. Of course, as a guy, it is still great to look at, and I can’t even try lying about it. But I enjoy the trashiness of the film. The screenplay is terrible, filled with laughable dialogue, including a scene between Elizabeth and Gina’s characters discussing their dog food enjoyment. But it’s this terrible, laughable dialogue and filmed sex scene acrobatics that give the film its charm, in a very campy way similar to Batman (1966) and Batman & Robin.
While my enjoyment stems from a lot of the campiness, the nudity is excellent as the film features many beautiful women and the sex scenes are something else. It features many terrible scenes that to some it was meant to be sexy, but it’s far from it. One particular sex scene between Elizabeth Berkley and Kyle MacLachlan in the pool is one of the most cringeworthy and cheesiest things you will ever see. In the scene, Berkley is seen gyrating like crazy, as if she was being stung by a jellyfish. It’s the definition of overacting and not sexy what so ever, which is different from how she could be sexy throughout the rest of the film. I laugh when I see it as that’s the beauty of this film. It has such hilarious over the top material that makes you look in disbelief at how it made it into a movie, let alone one meant for wide release. Similar to how the dialogue makes you think, “did I just hear that?” some of the events make you feel, “did I just see that?”
One particular scene that I will say that I seriously disliked was the infamous rape scene in the film. One, it was very distasteful, and secondly, it happened to the one genuinely likable character in the movie. It’s probably the one scene that doesn’t have anything fun about it. It’s such a tonal shift from the rest of the film that in a way, I wish it was taken out. But I did enjoy how Berkeley’s character gets revenge for her friend was sweet.
To enjoy this film, like any cult film, you have to embrace the cheesiness, live a little, and take it all in. You hear some of the dialogue in this, and you can’t help but feel it had to be intentional. There’s no other way to look at it. These performances, no matter how over their top some might be, are ones that I love.
All the cheesiness and trashiness is what has helped the film endure a following over the past 25 years that I’m proud to be apart of. Its legacy goes beyond just the cult following as it got a sequel that nobody saw, an off-off-Broadway parody called “Showgirls! The Musical” that was released to an overwhelmingly positive response from critics and audiences alike. An excellent documentary released earlier this year called You Don’t Nomi traces the film’s redemptive journey from notorious flop to a cult classic. Showgirls is a misunderstood masterpiece and I highly recommend the documentary for fans of the film to show them that they aren’t alone in admitting their love for it.
So I leave you with this question, if people are still talking about your film 25 years after it came out where some Oscars winners from that year are rarely mentioned, is your film that bad?
