The story of a young
dancer's (Berkley) adventures and misadventures as a
dancer/stripper in Las Vegas.
IMDb.
CRITIQUE
Most people in
the world are content just flat-out hating "Showgirls," the
botched Paul Verhoeven-Joe Eszterhas Las Vegas nudie musical. But
there are those of us, and our numbers have obviously been growing
if a special box set is being released on DVD this month, who
celebrate the film for its impeccable badness. Not that it's any
closeted obsession, but I am here to proclaim that I am one of
those people. I am a full-fledged devotee of "Showgirls."
I
have seen the movie approximately one billion times, both in its
original DVD incarnation and the hilariously inept version they show
on VH1 every weekend. I own the coffee table book "Showgirls: A
Portrait of a Film," in which Verhoeven waxes poetic about what the
musical numbers meant and the real-life stories behind the film. And
the piece de resistance is the German lobby card that proudly hangs on
my wall, showcasing the bare-breasted Gina Gershon and Elizabeth
Berkley, posing during the "dance off" during the S&M dance number
(which looks surprisingly like the climax of "Terminator 2").
So
you can imagine the thrill when I opened the mail to find a brand new,
super deluxe, velveteen "V.I.P" box set of the film. Finally, at long
last, people are appreciating the film for what it is - an unchained
treasure trove of B-movie clichés, numbing nudity, and a collection of
some of the most wondrously bad dialogue in movie history (from a
script that sold for several million dollars). And while this does
tickle me to no end, something inside me feels like this box set,
given that it will be the one and only special edition that is ever
made of this film, left some things to be desired. Read on...
THE VIDEO
This edition of
the film comes with a new and improved anamorphic transfer
(2.35:1), which does look a lot better than the terrible one on
the old DVD. It's not perfect, mind you, there's some noticeable
grain, particularly during the daytime scenes, but it's a vast
improvement over the last transfer and the colors and costumes
sparkle and pop in a way they never have before.
THE AUDIO
A new sound mix,
which is almost as bombastic as that new sound mix for the
"Jaws" DVD, is present here. For no good reason. Most people
don't really care if the IV bag crinkles like earthen debris
during the post-rape, pre-revenge scene. But hey, it works.
THE EXTRAS
What first
must be discussed is the packaging of this DVD, for it is what
most of the effort and work went into.
First
off, there's a huge poster of Elizabeth Berkley, as she's coming out
of the volcano in the "Goddess" musical number, nipples blazing. With
this poster is a game called "Pin the Pasty on the Showgirl," complete
with suction-cup pasties and logo-embossed blindfold. And that's just
the tip of the iceberg. As you dig deeper, you'll find a set of shot
glasses, with the logo proudly displayed, as well as a deck of playing
cards, and six "photo cards" (they're smaller than lobby cards and
feature no nudity) with suggested party games (examples: "Champagne
Room" and "The ABCs of T&A") and trivia tidbits.
And
from here I was feeling the twinge of disappointment, as they included
a deck of cards, but didn't include any nudity or characters on the
cards. If Nomi was on the ace, with the girls of the Stardust and
Cheetah rounding out the deck, I would be in absolute heaven. Sadly,
they are just black-backed with that annoying new logo that seems to
have been conjured specifically for this DVD release.
Now,
onto the actual DVD features...
The
highlight of the disc (by far) is the commentary track by David Schmader, a writer from Seattle who would do a traveling, annotated
commentary show of "Showgirls" with him sitting next to the screen and
giving his insights on the film he proudly proclaims is "The Greatest
Movie Ever Made." He refers to it as a "work of art" on more than one
occasion, sighting the "density" of badness, and will sometimes just
resort to saying things like "Oh my god, this part is so good, I'm
just going to shut up for a minute..." His commentary track is
hilarious not only for his editorial insight, but for his cat-calling
and talking back to the screen (one of his favorite exclamations as
the movie gets soapier is "z-z-z-zing!"). Although he kind of peters
out towards the end of the movie, it is still yet another reason to
re-watch "Showgirls," if you can believe that!
Almost as entertaining is the trivia track option wherein the movie
is accompanied by funny little facts and anecdotes in the style of the
most annoying show ever on television, VH1's "Pop-Up Video." Like when
the guy who picks up Nomi at the beginning says "I don't know anybody
that listens to Garth Brooks," a pop-up appears stating that
"Garth Brooks has sold over 100 million albums". Pretty great stuff. A
Showgirl's Diary does some storyboard-to-film comparisons, which is
cool, but not entirely revelatory (especially if you have the coffee
table book, which Schmader refers to as "a miracle of publishing").
The
original theatrical trailer rounds out the movie-related material.
The
other side of the special features centers around real-life stripping,
in a bizarre collaboration by the Scores strip joints. Not only is
there a special feature for Lap Dance Tutorials, but there's also an
option, during David Schmader's brilliant commentary track, to deviate
from watching the movie and see how the real-life showgirls would do
scenes from the movie. Not only is this a terrible tie-in, but does
anyone really think the stripping in "Showgirls" is all that sexy?
Most of the time they just look like pelvic-oriented spasms. I doubt
anyone has ever watched "Showgirls" and thought "wow, that dance move
is really sexy, I wonder how I'd pull it off." No, people watch
"Showgirls" and watch the dance numbers and laugh, laugh, laugh. For a
package that seems to have gotten so many things so right, this is
definitely one time that they missed the boat (by a long shot).
Okay
- all that stuff sounds great and fun and hysterical, right?
But
what if they brought in the key players to record commentary tracks?
If Paul Verhoeven came in to talk about how his vision was destroyed,
because we all know that he still maintains "Showgirls" inherent
greatness. And Joe Eszterhas could go on and on, I'm sure, given that
his recent tell-all book "Hollywood Animal," featured more than one
reference to the fact that Elizabeth Berkley and Verhoeven shared a
hotel room during production. Now that's the juicy, insider-y gossip that is
(sorely) missing from the DVD!
Ah!
FINAL THOUGHTS
I'm going to have to recommend
this DVD, despite its glaring omissions, because the movie contained
on the DVD is "Showgirls." And there's that hilarious commentary
track. And the "pin the pasties on the Showgirl" game. Aw, who am I
kidding? This is a great package to one of the most perfectly bad
movies of all time! Thank you, MGM, for realizing what you were
dealing with!
